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FILSON CLUB PUBLICATIONS No. 19

THE

Battle of New Orleans

INCLUDING THE

Previous Engagements between the Americans and the

British, the Indians, and the Spanish which

led to the Final Conflict on the

8th of January, 1815

BY

ZACHARY F. SMITH

Member of The Filson Club and Author of a History of Kentucky
and School Editions of the same

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY
PRINTERS TO THE FILSON CLUB

. 1904

COPYRIGHTED BY

THE FILSON CLUB

and All Rights Reserved
1904

T

T4-?

PREFACE

IN the preparation of the following account of the
"Battle of New Orleans," I have availed myself of
all accessible authorities, and have been placed under obli-
gations to Colonel R. T. Durrett, of Louisville, Kentucky.
I have had free access to his library, which is the largest
private collection in this country, and embraces works
upon almost every subject. Besides general histories
of the United States and of the individual States, and
periodicals, newspapers, and manuscripts, which con-
tain valuable information on the battle of New Orleans,
his library contains numerous works more specifically
devoted to this subject. Among these, to which I have
had access, may be mentioned Notices of the War of 1812,
by John M. Armstrong, two volumes, New York, 1840;
The Naval History of Great Britain from 1783 to 1830,
by Edward P. Brenton, two volumes, London, 1834;
History of the Late War, by H. M. Brackenridge, Phila-
delphia, 1839; An Authentic History of the Second War
for Independence, by Samuel R. Brown, two volumes,
Auburn, 1815; History of the Late War by an American

iv Preface

(Joseph Gushing), Baltimore, 1816; Correspondence
between General Jackson and General Adair as to the
Kentuckians charged by Jackson with inglorious flight,
New Orleans, 1815; An Authentic History of the Late
War, by Paris M. Davis, New York, 1836; A Narrative
of the Campaigns of the British Army by an Officer
(George R. Gleig), Philadelphia, 1821; History of Louis-
iana, American Dominion, by Charles Gayarre, New York,
1866; The Second War with England, illustrated, by J. T.
Headley, two volumes, New York, 1853; History of the
War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain,
by Rossi ter Johnson, New York, 1882; The Pictorial
Field-book of the War of 1812, by Benjamin J. Lossing,
New York, 1868; The War of 1812 in the Western Country,
by Robert B. McAfee, Lexington, Kentucky, 1816; His-
torical Memoirs of the War of 1814-1815, by Major A.
Lacarriere Latour, Philadelphia, 1816; Messages of James
Madison, President of the United States, parts one and
two, Albany, 1814; The Military Heroes of the War of
1812, by Charles J. Peterson, Philadelphia, 1858; The
Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt, New York,
1889; The History of the War of 1812-15, by J. Russell,
junior, Hartford, 1815; The Glory of America, etc., by
R. Thomas, New York, 1834; Historic Sketches of the
Late War, by John L. Thomson, Philadelphia, 1816;
The Life of Andrew Jackson, by Alexander Walker, Phila-

Preface v

delphia, 1867; A Full and a Correct Account of the Mili-
tary Occurrences of the Late War between Great Britain
and the United States, by James Williams, two volumes,
London, 1818.

I have also been placed under obligations to Mr.
William Beer, librarian of the Howard Library of New
Orleans, which has become a depository of rare works
touching the history of the South Mississippi Valley, and
especially relating to the War of 1812 and the battle of
New Orleans. A list of all the works in this library which
Mr. Beer placed at my disposal would be too long for
insertion here, but the following may be mentioned:
Claiborne's Notes on the War in the South, Goodwin's
Biography of Andrew Jackson, Reid and Easten's Life
of General Jackson, Nolte's Fifty Years in Both Hemi-
spheres, Report of Committee on Jackson's Warrant for
Closing the Halls of the Legislature of Louisiana, The
Madison Papers, Ingersoll's Historic Sketch of the Second
War between Great Britain and the United States,
Cooke's Seven Campaigns in the Peninsula, Hill's Recol-
lections of an Artillery Officer, Coke's History of the Rifle
Brigade, Diary of Private Timewell, and Cooke's Narra-
tive of Events. . No one would do justice to himself or
his subject if he should write a history of the battle of
New Orleans without availing himself of the treasures
of the Howard Library. Z. F. SMITH.

INTRODUCTION

ENGLAND was apparently more liberal than Spain or
France when, in the treaty of 1783, she agreed to the
Mississippi River as the western boundary of the United
States. Spain was for limiting the territory of the new
republic on the west to the crest of the Alleghany Moun-
tains, so as to secure to her the opportunity of conquering
from England the territory between the mountains and
the Great River. Strangely enough and inconsistently
enough, France supported Spain in this outrageous effort
to curtail the territory of the new republic after she had
helped the United States to conquer it from England,
or rather after General Clark had wrested it from England
for the colony of Virginia, and while Virginia was still in
possession of it. The seeming liberality of England,
however, may not have been more disinterested than the
scheming of Spain and France in this affair. England
did not believe, that the United States could exist as a
permanent government, but that the confederated States
would disintegrate and return to her as colonies. The King

viii Introduction

of England said as much when the treaty was made. If,
then, the States were to return to England as colonies,
the more territory they might bring with them the better,
and hence a large grant was acknowledged in the treaty
of peace. The acts of England toward the United States
after acknowledging their independence indicate that the
fixing of the western boundary on the Mississippi had as
much selfishness as liberality, if indeed it was not entirely
selfish.

The ink was scarcely dry upon the parchment which
bore evidence of the ratified treaty of 1783 -when the
mother country began acts of hostility and meanness
against her children who had separated from her and
begun a political life for themselves. When the English
ships of war, which had blockaded New York for seven
long years, sailed out of the harbor and took their course
toward the British Isles, instead of hauling down their
colors from the flagstaff of Fort George, they left them
flying over the fortification, and tried to prevent them
. from being removed by chopping down all the cleats for
ascent, and greasing the pole so that no one could climb
to the top and pull down the British flag or replace it by
the colors of the United States. An agile sailor boy,
named Van Arsdale, who had probably ascended many
trees in search of bird's nests, and clambered up the masts

Introduction ix

of ships until he had become an expert climber, nailed
new cleats to the flagstaff and climbed to its summit,
bearing with him the flag of the new republic. When
he reached the top he cut down the British flag and sus-
pended that of the United States. This greasy trick
may have been the act of some wag of the retiring fleet,
and might have been taken for a joke had it not been
followed by hostile acts which indicated that this was
the initial step in a long course of hostility and meanness.
But it was soon followed by the retention of the lake
forts which fell into British hands during the Revolution-
ary War, and which, by the terms of the treaty, were to
be surrendered. Instead of surrendering them according
to the stipulations of the treaty, they held them, and not
only occupied them for thirteen years, but used them as
storehouses and magazines from which the Indians were
fed and clothed and armed and encouraged to tomahawk
and scalp Americans without regard to age or sex. And
then followed a series of orders in council, by which the
commerce of the United States was almost swept from
the seas, and their sailors forcibly taken from American
ships to serve on British. These orders in council were
so frequent that it seemed as if the French on one side
of the British Channel and the English on the other were
hurling decrees and orders at one another for their own

x Introduction

amusement while inflicting dire injuries on other nations,
and especially the Americans.

Had it not been for these hostile acts of the British
there would have been no War of 1812. Had they con-
tinued to treat the young republic with the justice and
liberality to which they agreed in fixing its western bound-
ary in the treaty of 1783, no matter what their motive
may have been, there would have been no cause for war
between the two countries. The Americans had hardly
recovered from the wounds inflicted in the Revolutionary
War. They were too few and too weak and too poor to
go to war with such a power as England, and moreover
wanted a continuance of the peace by which they were
adding to the population and wealth of their country.
What they had acquired in the quarter of a century since
the end of the Revolutionary War was but little in com-
parison with the accumulations of England during long
centuries, and they were not anxious to risk their all in
a conflict with such a power ; but young and weak and few
as they were, they belonged to that order of human
beings who hold their rights and their honor in such high
regard that they can not continuously be insulted and
injured without retaliation. The time came when they
resolved to bear the burdens of war rather than submit
to unjustice and dishonor.

Introduction xi

In the French and Indian war which preceded the
Revolution there was fighting for some time before a
formal declaration of war. The English drove the French
traders from the Ohio Valley, and the French forced out
the English while the two nations were at peace. The
French chassed from one of their forts to another with
fiddles instead of drums, and the English with fowling-
pieces instead of muskets rambled over the forest, but
they sometimes met and introduced each other to acts
of war while a state of hostility was acknowledged by
neither. Something like a similar state of things pre-
ceded the War of 1812. Tecumseh was at work trying
to unite all the tribes of Indians in one grand confederacy,
ostensibly to prevent them from selling their lands to the
Americans, but possibly for the purpose of war. While
he was at this work his brother, the Prophet, had con-
vinced the Indians that he had induced the Great Spirit
to make them bullet-proof, and the English so encour-
aged them with food and clothing and arms that they
believed they were able to conquer the Americans, and
began to carry on hostilities against them without any
formal declaration of war by either party. The battle
of Tippecanoe, which came of this superstition among
the Indians and this encouragement from England, may
be considered the first clash of anns in the War of 1812.

xii Introduction

The English took no open or active part in this battle,
but their arms and ammunition and rations were in it,
and after it was lost the Indians went to the English and
became their open allies when the War of 1812 really
began. Whether the English were allies of the Indians
or the Indians allies of the English, they fought and bled
and died and were conquered together after the initial
conflict at Tippecanoe, in 1811, to the final battle at New
Orleans in 1815, which crowned the American arms with
a glory never to fade.

The Filson Club, whose broad field of work in history,
literature, science, and art is hardly indicated by the name
of the first historian of Kentucky, which it bears, has
deemed three of the battles which were fought during
the War of 1812 as the most important of the many that
were waged. These three were, first, the battle of Tippe-
canoe, regarded as the opening scene of the bloody drama;
second, the battle of the Thames, by which the power
of the British was crushed in the west and northwest,
and third, the battle of New Orleans, which ended the
war in a glorious victory for the Americans. The Club
determined to have the history of these three battles
written and filed among its archives, and to have the
matter published for the benefit of the public. Hence,
the task was undertaken by three different members of
the Club.

Introduction xiii

The first of these, "The Battle of Tippecanoe," was
prepared for the Club by Captain Alfred Pirtle, and pub-
lished in 1900 as Filson Club Publication Number 15.
It is an illustrated quarto of one hundred and sixty-seven
pages, which gives a detailed account of the battle of
Tippecanoe and the acts of the Indians and British which
led to it and the important consequences which followed.
The names of the officers and soldiers, and especially those
of Kentucky who were engaged in it, are given so far as
could be ascertained, and the book is a historic record
of this battle, full enough and faithful enough to furnish
the reader with all of the important facts.

The second, "The Battle of the Thames," the 5th of
October, 1813, was undertaken by Colonel Bennett H.
Young, and appeared in 1903 as the eighteenth publi-
cation of the Filson Club. It is an elaborately illustrated
quarto of two hundred and eighty-six pages, and presents
a detailed account of the acts which led up to the main
battle and the engagements by land and water which
preceded it. It contains a list of all the Kentuckians who
as officers and privates were in the battle. The reader
who seeks information about this battle need look no
further than its pages.

The third and last of these important battles occurred
at New Orleans the 8th of January, 1815. Its history

xiv Introduction

was prepared for the Club by Mr. Z. F. Smith, and now
appears as Filson Club Publication Number Nineteen,
for the year 1904. It is an illustrated quarto in the
adopted style of the Club, which has been so much
admired for its antique paper and beautiful typography.
It sets forth with fullness and detail the hostilities which
preceded and led to the main battle, and gives such a
clear description of the final conflict by the assistance
of charts as to enable the reader to understand the
maneuvers of both sides and to virtually see the battle
as it progressed from the beginning to the end. This
battle ended the War of 1812, and when the odds against
the Americans are considered, it must be pronounced
one of the greatest victories ever won upon the battle-
field. The author, Mr. Z. F. Smith, was an old-line Whig,
and was taught to hate Jackson as Henry Clay, the leader
of the Whigs, hated him, but he has done the old hero
full justice in this narrative, and has assigned him full
honors of one of the greatest victories ever won. Although
his sympathies were with General Adair, a brother Ken-
tuckian, he takes up the quarrel between him and Gen-
eral Jackson and does Jackson full and impartial justice.
If Jackson had been as unprejudiced against Adair as
the author against Jackson, there would have been noth-
ing like a stain left upon the escutcheon of the Ken-

Introduction xv

tuckians who abandoned the fight on the west bank of the
Mississippi because it was their duty to get out of it rather
than be slaughtered like dumb brutes who neither see
impending danger nor reason about the mistakes of supe-
riors and the consequences. He who reads the account
of the battle of New Orleans which follows this intro-
duction will know more about that battle than he knew
before, or could have learned from any other source in so

small a compass.

R. T. DURRETT,

President of The Filson Club.

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Author Frontispiece

Seat of War in Louisiana and Florida , . 8

Position of the American and British Armies near New

Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815, 24

Battle of New Orleans, on the 8th of January, 1815, . 56

General Andrew Jackson, 72

General John Adair 112

Governor Isaac Shelby, 164

Colonel Gabriel Slaughter 174

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

GULF COAST CAMPAIGN, PRECEDING THE FINAL
STRUGGLE.

ON the a6th of November, 1814, a fleet of sixty great
ships weighed anchor, unfurled their sails, and
put to sea, as the smoke lifted and floated away from
a signal gun aboard the Tonnant, the flagship of Admiral
Sir Alexander Cochrane, from Negril Bay, on the coast of
Jamaica. Nearly one half of these vessels were formid-
able warships, the best of the English navy, well divided
between line-of-battle ships of sixty-four, seventy-four,
and eighty guns, frigates of forty to fifty guns, and sloops
and brigs of twenty to thirty guns each. In all, one
thousand pieces of artillery mounted upon the decks
of these frowned grimly through as many port-holes,
bidding defiance to the navies of the world and safely
convoying over thirty transports and provisioning ships,
bearing every equipment for siege or battle by sea and
for a formidable invasion of an enemy's country by land.
Admiral Cochrane, in chief command, and Admiral Mai-
combe, second in command, were veteran officers whose
services and fame are a part of English history.

2 The Battle of New Orleans

On board of this fleet was an army and its retinue,
computed by good authorities to number fourteen thou-
sand men, made up mainly of the veteran troops of the
British military forces recently operating in Spain and
France, trained in the campaigns and battles against
Napoleon through years of war, and victors in the end in
these contests. Major Latour, Chief Engineer of General
Jackson's army, in his "Memoirs of the War in Florida
and Louisiana in 1814-15," has carefully compiled from
British official sources a detailed statement of the regi-
ments, corps, and companies which constituted the army
of invasion under Pakenham, at New Orleans, as follows:

Fourth Regiment —

King's Own, Lieutenant-colonel Brooks 750

Seventh Regiment —

Royal Fusileers, Lieutenant-colonel Blakency 850

Fourteenth Regiment —

Duchess of York's Own, Lieutenant-colonel Baker. . . 350

Twenty-first Regiment —

Royal Fusileers, Lieutenant-colonel Patterson 900

Fortieth Regiment-
Somersetshire, Lieutenant-colonel H. Thornton 1,000

Forty-third Regiment—

Monmouth Light Infantry, Lieutenant-colonel Pat-

rickson 850

Forty-fourth Regiment-
East Essex, Lieutenant-colonel Mullen 750

The Battle of New Orleans 3

Eighty-fifth Regiment —

Buck Volunteers, Lieutenant-colonel Wm. Thornton . 650

Ninety-third Regiment-
Highlanders, Lieutenant-colonel Dale 1,100

Ninety-fifth Regiment-
Rifle Corps, Major Mitchell 500

First Regiment-
West India (colored), Lieutenant-colonel Whitby. . . 700

Fifth Regiment-
West India (colored), Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton. . . 700

A detachment from the Sixty-second Regiment 350

Rocket Brigade, Artillery, Engineers, Sappers and

Miners 1,500

Royal Marines and sailors from the fleet 3,500

Total 14,450

Including artillerists, marines, and others, seamen of
the ships' crews afloat, there were not fewer than eigh-
teen thousand men, veterans in the service of their coun-
try in the lines of their respective callings, to complete
the equipment of this powerful armada.

At the head of this formidable army of invasion were
Lord Edward Pakenham, commander-in-chief ; Major-gen-
eral Samuel Gibbs, commanding the first, Major-general
John Lambert, the second, and Major-general John Keene,
the third divisions, supported by subordinate officers,
than whom none living were braver or more skilled in

4 The Battle of New Orleans

the' science and practice of war. Nearly all had learned
their lessons under the great Wellington, the conqueror
of Napoleon. Since 1588, when the combined naval
and military forces of England were summoned to repel
the attempted invasion and conquest of that cotintry
by the Spanish Armada, the British Government had
not often fitted out and sent against an enemy a com-
bined armament so powerful and so costly as that which
rendezvoused in the tropical waters of Negril Bay in
the latter autumn days of 1814. Even the fleet of Nelson
at the Battle of the Nile, sixteen years before, where
he won victory and immortal honors by the destruction
of the formidable French fleet, was far inferior in number
of vessels, in ordnance, and in men to that of Admiral
Cochrane on this expedition. The combined equipment
cost England forty millions of dollars.

In October and November of this year, the marshal-
ing of belligerent forces by sea and land from the shores
of Europe and America, with orders to rendezvous at
a favorable maneuvering point in the West Indies, caused
much conjecture as to the object in view. That the
War Department of the English Government meditated
a winter campaign somewhere upon the southern coasts
of the United States was a common belief; that an inva-
sion of Louisiana and the capture and occupation of New

The Battle of New Orleans 5

Orleans was meant, many surmised. For reasons of
State policy, the object of the expedition in view was
held a secret until the day of setting sail. Now it was
disclosed by those in command that New Orleans was
the objective point, and officers and men were animated
with the hope that, in a few weeks more, they would
be quartered for the winter in the subjugated capital
of Louisiana, with a dream that the coveted territory
might be occupied and permanently held as a posses-
sion of the British Empire.

The Government at Washington was advised that,
during the summer and early autumn months of 1814,
our implacable enemy was engaged in preparations for
a renewal of hostilities on a scale of magnitude and activity
beyond anything attempted since the war began; but
it seemed not fully to interpret the designs and plans
of the British leaders. Especially unfortunate, and fin-
ally disastrous to the American arms, was the inaptness
and inertness of the Secretary of War, General Arm-
strong, in failing to adopt, promptly and adequately,
measures to meet the emergency. For almost a year
after the destruction of the English fleet on Lake Erie
by Commodore Perry, and of the English army at the
battle of the Thames by General Harrison, a period
of comparative repose ensued between the belligerents.

6 The Battle of New Orleans

The British Government was too much absorbed in deliv-
ering the coup-de-main to the great Napoleon to give
attention to America. But her opportunity came. The
allied powers defeated and decimated the armies of the
French Emperor, and forced him to capitulate in his
own capital. On the 3d of March, 1814, they entered
Paris. On the eleventh of May Napoleon abdicated,
and was sent an exile to Elba.

England was at peace with all Europe. Her con-
quering armies and fleets would be idle for an indefinite
period; yet, it would be premature to disband the former
or to dismantle the latter. Naturally, attention turned
to the favorable policy of employing these vast and ready
resources for the chastisement and humiliation of her
American enemies, as a fit closing of the war and pun-
ishment for their rebellious defiance. Under orders, the
troops in France and Spain were marched to Bordeaux
and placed in a camp of concentration, from which they
were debarked in fleets down the river Garonne, and
across the Atlantic to their destinations in America.
An English officer with these troops expressed the sen-
timent of the soldiers and seamen, and of the average
citizen of England at this time, in this language: "It
was the general opinion that a large proportion of the
Peninsular army would be transported to the other side

The Battle of New Orleans 7

of the Atlantic, that the war would there be carried on
with vigor, and that no terms of accommodation would
be listened to, except such as a British general should
dictate in the Republican Senate."

Overtures for the negotiation of a treaty of peace
had been interchanged between the two nations at war
as early as January. By April the American Commis-
sioners were in Europe, though the arrival of the English
Commissioners at Ghent for final deliberations was delayed
until August. Meanwhile, several thousands of these
Peninsular troops were transported to reinforce the
army in Canada. On the sixteenth of August a small
fleet of British vessels in Chesapeake Bay was reinforced
by thirty sail under the command of Admirals Cochrane
and Malcombe, one half of which were ships of war. A
large part of this flotilla moved up the Potomac
and disembarked about six thousand men, under com-
mand of General Ross. The battle of Bladensburg was
fought on the twenty-fourth, followed immediately by
the capture of Washington and the burning of the Gov-
ernment buildings there. A few days after, the com-
bined naval and military British forces were defeated
in an attack on Baltimore, General Ross, commander-
in-chief, being among the slain. About the same date,
Commodore McDonough won a great and crushing victory

8 The Battle of New Orleans

over the English fleet on Lake Champlain, while the
British army of fourteen thousand men, under Sir George
Prevost, was signally defeated by the Americans, less
than seven thousand in number, at Plattsburg, on the
border of New York.

Such was the military situation in the first month
of autumn, 1814. Seemingly, the British plenipoten-
tiaries had a motive in reserve for delaying the negotia-
tions for peace. England yet looked upon the United
States as her wayward prodigal, and conjured many
grievances against the young nation that had rebuked
her cruel insolence and pride in two wars. She nursed
a spirit of imperious and bitter revenge. A London
organ, recently before, had said: "In diplomatic circles it
is rumored that our military and naval commanders in
America have no power to conclude any armistice or
suspension of arms. Terms will be offered to the Ameri-
can Government at the point of the bayonet. America
will be left in a much worse situation as a commercial
and naval power than she was at the commencement
of the war."

The reverses to the British arms on Lake Champlain,
at Plattsburg, and at Baltimore, virtually ended hos-
tilities in the Northern States for the remaining period
of the war. Winter approaching, all belligerent forces

The Battle of New Orleans 9

that could be marshaled would be transferred to the
waters of the Gulf for operations on the coast there. The
malice and wanton barbarity of the English in burning
the national buildings and property at Washington, in
the destruction and loot of houses, private and public,
on the shores of the Chesapeake and Atlantic, and in
repeated military outrages unjustified by the laws of
civilized warfare, had fully aroused the Government
and the citizenship to the adoption of adequate measures
of defense for the Northern and Eastern States. It was
too late, however, to altogether repair the injuries done
to the army of the Southwest by the tardiness and default
of the head of the War Department, which, as General
Jackson said in an official report, threatened defeat and
disaster to his command at New Orleans. Indignant
public sentiment laid the blame of the capture of Wash-
ington, and of the humiliating disasters there, to the
same negligence and default of this official, which led
to his resignation soon after.

GENERAL JACKSON ASSUMES COMMAND OF THE SEVENTH
MILITARY DISTRICT OF THE SOUTHWEST.

General Andrew Jackson had, in July, 1814, been
appointed a major-general in the United States army,
and assigned the command of the Southern department,

io The Battle of New Orleans

with headquarters at Mobile. His daring and successful
campaigns against the Indian allies of the British the
year previous had won for him the confidence of the
Government and of the people, and distinguished him
as the man fitted for the emergency. At the beginning
of the war British emissaries busily sought to enlist,
arm, and equip all the Indians of the Southern tribes
whom they could disaffect, as their allies, and to incite
them to a war of massacre, pillage, and destruction against
the white settlers, as they did with the savage tribes
north of the Ohio River. In this they were successfully
aided by Tecumseh, the Shawanee chief, and his brother,
the Prophet. These were sons of a Creek mother and
a Shawanee brave. By relationship, and by the rude
eloquence of the former and the mystic arts and incan-
tations of the latter, they brought into confederacy with
Northern tribes — which they had organized as allies of the
English in a last hope of destroying American power
in the West — almost the entire Creek nation. These
savages, though at peace under treaty and largely sup-
ported by the fostering aid of our Government, began
hostilities after their usual methods of indiscriminate
massacre and marauding destruction, regardless of age
or sex or condition, against the exposed settlers. The
latter sought refuge as they could in the rude stockade

The Battle of New Orleans 1 1

stations, but feebly garrisoned. At Fort Mims, on the
Alabama River, nearly three hundred old men and women
and children, with a small garrison of soldiers, were cap-
tured in a surprise attack by a large body of warriors,
and all massacred in cold blood. This atrocious outbreak
aroused the country, and led to speedy action for defense
and terrible chastisement for the guilty perpetrators.
The British officers offered rewards for scalps brought
in, as under Proctor in the Northwest, and many scalps
of men and women murdered were exchanged for this
horrible blood-money.

In October, 1813, General Jackson led twenty-five
hundred Tennessee militia, who had been speedily called
out, into the Creek country in Alabama. A corps of one
thousand men from Georgia, and another of several hun-
dred from the territory of Mississippi, invaded the same
from different directions. Sanguinary battles with the
savages were fought by Jackson's command at Tallase-
hatche, Talladega, Hillabee, Autosse, Emuckfau, Toho-
peka, and other places, with signal success to the American
arms in every instance. The villages and towns of the
enemy were burned, their fields and gardens laid waste,
and the survivors driven to the woods and swamps. Not
less than five thousand of the great Ocmulgee nation
perished in this war, either in battle or from the ruinous

12 The Battle of New Orleans

results of their treachery after. Nearly one thousand of
the border settlers were sacrificed, one half of whom
were women and children or other non-combatants, the
victims of the malignant designs and arts of British
emissaries. The chief of the Creeks sued for peace, and
terms were negotiated by General Jackson on the i4th
of August, 1814.

From his headquarters at Mobile, in September, 1814,
General Jackson, with sleepless vigilance, was anticipa-
ting and watching the movements of the British upon the
Gulf coast, and marshaling his forces to resist any attack.
There had been reported to him the arrival of a squadron
of nine English ships in the harbor of Pensacola. Spain
was at peace with our country, and it was due that the
Spanish commandant of Florida, yet a province of Spain,
should observe a strict neutrality pending hostilities.
Instead of this comity of good faith and friendship, the
Spanish officials had permitted this territory to become
a refuge for the hostile Indians. Here they could safely
treat with the British agents, from whom they received
the implements of war, supplies of food and clothing,
and the pay and emoluments incident to their services
as allies in war. In violation of the obligations of neu-
trality, the Spanish officials not only tolerated this tres-
pass on the territory of Florida, but, truckling to the

The Battle of New Orleans 13

formidable power and prestige of the great English nation,
they dared openly to insult our own Government by
giving aid and encouragement to our enemy in their very
capital.

The most important and accessible point in Spanish
Florida was Pensacola. Here the Governor, Gonzalez
Maurequez, held court and dispensed authority over
the province. The pride of the Spaniards in the old
country and in Florida and Louisiana was deeply wounded
over the summary sale of the territory of Louisiana by
'Napoleon to the United States in 1803; recalling the
compulsory cession of the same to France by Spain in
1800. Naturally they resented with spirit what they
deemed an indignity to the honor and sovereignty of
their nation. The Spanish minister at Washington entered
a solemn protest against the transaction; questions of
boundaries soon after became a continuing cause of irri-
tating dispute. The Dons contended that all east of the
Mississippi River was Florida territory and subject to
their jurisdiction. A military demonstration by General
Wilkinson, then in command of the army of the South-
west, was ordered from Washington, opposition awed
into silence, and the transfer made. In brief time after
the boundaries of Florida were fixed on the thirty-first
degree of north latitude, and east of a line near to the

14 The Battle of New Orleans

present boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi.
Previously Mobile was the seat of government for Florida,
but American aggression made the removal of the Gov-
ernment to Pensacola compulsory, and gave an additional
cause of grievance to our sensitive neighbors. Under
British auspices and promises of protection, the Governor
displayed his resentment.

To confirm the report that came to him at Mobile
of the arrival of an English squadron in Pensacola Bay,
and of treacherous aid and comfort being given by the
Spanish Governor, Jackson sent as spies some friendly
Indians to the scene of operations, with instructions
to furtively observe all that could be seen and known,
and report to him the information. It was confirmed
that the ships were in the harbor, and that a camp of
English soldiers was in the town; that a considerable
body of Indian recruits had been armed and were being
drilled, and that runners had been dispatched to the
country to invite and bring others to the coast to join
them as comrades in arms. A few days after, a friendly
courier brought news that several hundred marines had
landed from the ships, that Colonel Nichols in command
and his staff were guests of Governor Maurequez, and
that the British flag was floating with the flag of Spain
over one of the Spanish forts.

The Battle of New Orleans 15

An order issued about this time by Colonel Nichols
to his troops, followed by a proclamation to the people of
Louisiana and Kentucky, revealed in visible outlines some-
thing of the purposes and plans of the menacing arma-
ments. He advised his command that the troops would
probably soon be called upon to endure long and tedious
marches through forests and swamps in an enemy's
country, and exhorted them to conciliate their Indian
allies and "never to give them just cause of offense."
He addressed the most inflammatory appeals to the
national pride and prejudices of the French people of
Louisiana, and to supposed discontented citizens of Ken-
tucky, whose grievances had grown out of their neglect
by the National Government or been engendered by the
arts of designing politicians and adventurers.

BATTLE AT MOBILE BAY — THE BRITISH REPULSED.

General Jackson strongly suspected that Louisiana
would be invaded, and that New Orleans was designed
to be the main and final point of attack. Yet he was
led to believe that the British would attempt the capture
of Mobile first, for strategic reasons. Early in September
he reinforced the garrison of Fort Bowyer, situated thirty
miles south of Mobile. This fortification, mounting twenty
cannon, commanded the entrance to the harbor. It was

1 6 The Battle of New Orleans

garrisoned by one hundred and thirty men, under the
command of Major William Lawrence. On the fifteenth
of September the attack was made by a squadron of
four ships of war, assisted by a land force of seven hun-
dred marines and Indians. Though the enemy mounted
ninety- two pieces of artillery, in the assault made they
were defeated and driven off to sea again, with a loss of
two hundred killed and wounded, the flagship of the
commander sent to the bottom, and the remaining ships
seriously damaged.

ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF PENSACOLA, THE SPANISH
CAPITAL OF FLORIDA — THE BRITISH DRIVEN
TO SEA.

Incensed at the open and continued violations of
neutrality by the Spanish Governor, who had permitted
Pensacola to be made a recruiting camp for the arming
and drilling of their Indian allies by the British, General
Jackson determined to march his army against this seat
of government, and to enforce the observance of neu-
trality on the part of the Spanish commandant at the
point of the bayonet if need be. He had removed his
headquarters to Fort Montgomery, where by the first
of November his command consisted of one thousand
regular troops and two thousand militia, mainly from

The Battle of New Orleans 17

•

Tennessee and Mississippi — in all, about three thousand
men. With these he set out for Pensacola, and on the
evening of the sixth of November encamped within two
miles of the town. He sent in Major Peire, bearing a
flag of truce to the Governor, with a message that Pen-
sacola must no longer be a refuge and camp for the enemies
of the United States, and that the town must be sur-
rendered, together with the forts. The messenger was
fired on and driven back from Fort St. Michael, over
which the British flag had been floating jointly with
the flag of Spain. The firing was done by British troops
harbored within. Governor Maurequez disavowed knowl-
edge of the outrage, but refused to surrender his author-
ity. The next morning the intrepid Jackson entered
the town and carried by storm its defenses, the British
retreating to their ships and putting off to sea. Fort
Barrancas was blown up by the enemy, to prevent the
Americans from turning its guns upon the escaping British
vessels. The Spanish commandant made profuse apolo-
gies, and pledged that he would in future observe a strict
neutrality.

Jackson, fearing another attempt to capture Mobile
by the retiring fleet, withdrew from Pensacola and
marched for the former place, arriving there on the
eleventh of November. At Mobile, messengers from those

1 8 The Battle of New Orleans

in highest authority at New Orleans met him, urging
that he hasten there with his army and at once begin
measures for the defense of that city. Information had
been received by W. C. Claiborne, then Governor of Louis-
iana, from a highly credited source — most unexpected,
but most fortunate and welcome — that the vast British
armament of ships and men rendezvousing in the West
Indies was about ready to sail, and that New Orleans
was assuredly the objective point of the expedition.

LAFITTE, THE PIRATE OF THE GULF, AND HIS SEA-ROVERS,
LOYAL TO THE AMERICAN CAUSE.

The informant was the celebrated Captain Jean
Lafitte, the leader of the reputed pirates of the Gulf,
who had been outlawed by an edict of our Government.
The circumstances were so romantic, and displayed such
a patriotic love for and loyalty to our country, that they
are worthy of brief mention. As Byron wrote, he

Left a corsair's name to other times,

Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes.

But this does injustice to these marauders of the sea,
who put in a plea of extenuation. The disparity of their
virtues and their crimes is overwrought in the use of
poetic license. Before the period of the conquest of

The Battle of New Orleans 19

Guadeloupe by the English, the French Government in
force on that island had granted permits to numerous
privateersmen to prey upon the commerce of the enemy,
as our own Government had done in two wars. Now
they could no longer enter the ports of that or of any
other of the West India islands, with their prizes and
cargoes. Lafitte and his daring sea-rovers made of the
Bay of Barataria, on the Gulf coast sixty miles south
of New Orleans, a place of rendezvous and headquarters
for their naval and commercial adventures. From this
point they had ready and almost unobserved communi-
cation by navigable bayous with New Orleans and the
marts beyond. They formed a sequestered colony on the
shores of Barataria, and among the bold followers of
Lafitte there were nearly one hundred men skilled in
navigation, expert in the use of artillery, and familiar
with every bay and inlet within one hundred miles of
the Crescent City. Their services, if attainable, might
be made invaluable in the invasion and investment of
New Orleans contemplated by the British, who through
their spies kept well informed of the conditions of the
environment of the city. The time seemed opportune
to win them over. If not pirates under our laws, they
were smugglers who found it necessary to market the
rich cargoes they captured and brought in as privateers-

20 The Battle of New Orleans

men. Barred out by other nations, New Orleans was
almpst the lone market for their wares and for their
distribution inland. Many merchants and traders favored
this traffic, and had grown rich in doing so, despite the
severity of our revenue laws against smuggling and the
protests of other nations with whom we were friendly.
One of the Lafitte brothers and other leaders of the
outlawed community were under arrest and held for
trial in the Federal Court at New Orleans at this time.
From Pensacola, Colonel Nichols sent Captains Lockyer,
of the navy, and Williams, of the army, as emissaries
to offer to the Baratarian outlaws the most enticing terms
and the most liberal rewards, provided they would enlist
in the service of the British in their invasion of Louisiana.
Lafitte received them cautiously, but courteously. He
listened to their overtures, and feigned deep interest
in their mission. Having fully gained their confidence,
they delivered to him sealed packages from Colonel
Nichols himself, offering thirty thousand dollars in hand,
high commissions in the English service for the officers,
and liberal pay for the men, on condition that the Bara-
tarians would ally themselves with the British forces.
After the reading of these documents, the emissaries
began to enlarge on the subject, insisting on the great
advantages to result on enlisting in the service of his

The Battle of New Orleans 2 1

Britannic Majesty, and the opportunity afforded of acquir-
ing fame and fortune. They were imprudent enough
to disclose to Lafitte the purpose and plans of the great
English flotilla in the waters of the Gulf, now ready to
enter upon their execution. The army of invasion, sup-
ported by the navy of England, would be invincible,
and all lower Louisiana would soon be in the possession
of the British. They would then penetrate the upper
country, and act in concert with the forces in Canada.
On plausible pretexts the emissaries were delayed for a
day or two, and then returned to their ship lying at anchor
outside the pass into the harbor. Lafitte lost little time
in visiting New Orleans and laying before Governor
Claiborne the letters of Colonel Nichols and the sensa-
tional information he had received from the British
envoys.

It was this intelligence which was borne in haste
to General Jackson at Mobile, by the couriers mentioned
previously. The Lafittes promptly tendered the services
of themselves, their officers, and their men, in a body
to the American army, and pledged to do all in their
power, by sea and land, to defeat and repel the invading
enemy, on condition that the Government would accept
their enlistment, pardon them of all offenses, and remove
from over them the ban of outlawry. This was all finally

22 The Battle of New Orleans

done, and no recruits of Jackson's army rendered more
gallant and effective service, for their numbers, in the
stirring campaign that followed. They outclassed the
English gunners in artillery practice, and showed them-
selves to be veterans as marines or soldiers.

On receipt of this information of Lafitte, confirmed
from other secret and reliable sources, the citizens were
aroused. A mass-meeting was held in New Orleans
and a Committee of Safety appointed, composed of
Edward Livingston, Pierre Fouchet, De la Croix, Ben-
jamin Morgan, Dominique Bouligny, J. A. Destrahan,
John Bl'anque, and Augustine Macarte, who acted in con-
cert with Governor Claiborne, and with the Legislature
called into session.

JACKSON ARRIVES IN NEW ORLEANS.

General Jackson left Mobile on the twenty-first of
November and arrived with his little army at New
Orleans on the second of December, and established
headquarters at 984 (now 406) Royal Street. He found
the city well-nigh defenseless, while petty factions divided
the councils of leaders and people, especially rife among
the members of the Legislature. There was, incident
to recent changes of sovereignties and conditions of
nationalities, serious disaffection on the part of a most

The Battle of New Orleans 23

respectable element of the population of Louisiana and
Florida toward the American Government. The
French and Spaniards, who mainly composed the popu-
lation, intensely loved their native countries with a patri-
otic pride. They knew allegiance to no other, until a
few years before, by the arbitrary edicts of Napoleon,
all of Louisiana was sold and transferred to the United
States. Other causes of irritation added to the bitter-
ness of resentment felt by the old Spanish element.
Spain tenaciously insisted on enforcing her claims of
sovereignty to all territory from the east bank of the
Mississippi to the Perdido River, on the east line of Ala-
bama. But the American settlers within the same became
turbulent, and in October, 1810, these bold bordermen
organized a filibustering force of some strength, captured
and took possession of Baton Rouge, killing Commandant
Grandpre, who yet asserted there the authority of Spain.
When Congress met, in December, 1810, an act was
passed in secret session authorizing the President to
take military possession of the disputed coast country
in certain contingencies. Under orders from Washing-
ton, General Wilkinson, with a force of six hundred regu-
lars, marched against Mobile, took possession of the
Spanish fort, Charlotte, and caused the garrison to with-
draw to Pensacola.

24 The Battle of New Orleans

This precipitate action — the British envoy protesting
against such informal occupation — was justified at home
on the plea of strong grounds of suspicion that England
herself might suddenly assert sovereignty over the same
territory under secret treaty with Spain. Amid these
rude and revolutionary proceedings, all within a decade
of years, necessarily there followed a tumult of differing
sentiment and contentions among the Spanish, French,
and American people of the section. Fortunately the
French element were of a nativity whose country had
been for generations the inveterate enemy of the Eng-
lish, our common foe. If there were any who felt resent-
ment before over the enforced change of allegiance from
beloved France to the stranger sovereignty, when the
crisis of campaign and battle came none were more gallant
and brave in meeting the invading enemy.

On the ninth of December the great English flotilla
appeared off Chandeleur Islands, and came to anchor
near to Ship Island, the shallowness of the water not
permitting the nearer approach to the main shore of
vessels so large. The British authorities yet believed
that the destination of this fleet was unknown to the
Americans ashore ; but in this they were mistaken, as they
afterward admitted. The inadequacy of men and means
and measures to properly meet and repel such an invad-

NEAR NEW ORLEA

The Battle of New Orleans 25

ing force, as mentioned before, was mainly due to the
tardy negligence of the department at Washington. The
sleepless vigilance and untiring energy of General Jack-
son was in marked contrast to this, not only within his
own military jurisdiction, but in the whole region around.
His trusty spies, pale and dusky, were everywhere, and
little escaped his attention. The situation was now
critical in the extreme. Fortunately, the unbounded
confidence all had in their military chief inspired hope
and infused energy among the people. He had never
been defeated in battle. If any one could wrest victory
now out of the inauspicious and chaotic conditions
that threatened disaster, they believed it to be General
Jackson.

Marvelous was the change wrought by his timely
appearance on the theater of active operations. The
partial attempts to adopt measures of defense were of
little avail. The joint committee of the Legislature to
act in concert with Governor Claiborne, Commodore
Patterson, and the military commandant, had done
but little as yet. There was wanting the concentration
of power always needed in military operations. Latour,
in his "Memoirs of the War of 1814-15," graphically
describes the condition of affairs as he saw and knew
them to exist:

26 The Battle of New Orleans

Confidence was wanting in the civil and military authori-
ties, and a feeling of distrust and gloomy apprehension per-
vaded the minds of the citizens. Petty disputes on account
of two committees of defense, unfortunately countenanced
by the presence and influence of several public officials, had
driven the people to despondency. They complained, not
without cause, that the Legislature wasted time, and con-
sumed the money of the State, in idle discussions, when both
time and money should have been devoted to measures of
defense. The banks had suspended payment of their notes,
and credit was gone. The moneyed men had drawn in their
funds, and loaned their money at the ruinous rates of three
or four per cent per month. The situation seemed desperate;
in case of attack, none could hope to be saved only by miracle,
or by the wisdom and genius of a great commander.

After his habit of giving his personal attention to every
detail, General Jackson, on his arrival, visited Port St.
Philip, ordered the wooden barracks removed, and had
mounted additional heavy artillery. He caused two
more batteries to be constructed, one on the opposite
bank of the Mississippi, and the other half a mile above,
with twenty-four pounders in position, thus fully guard-
ing the approach by the mouth of the river. He then
proceeded to Chef Menteur, as far as Bayou Sauvage,
and ordered a battery erected at that point. He con-
tinued to fortify or obstruct the larger bayous whose
waters gave convenient access to the city between the
Mississippi and the Gulf.

The Battle of New Orleans 27

As early as July before, the Secretary of War, in view
of the formidable armaments of England, had made
requisition of the several States for ninety-three thousand
five hundred men for general defensive purposes, under
a law of Congress enacted the previous April. The quota
of Kentucky was fifty-five hundred infantry; of Ten-
nessee, twenty-five hundred infantry; of Mississippi ter-
ritory, five hundred infantry, and of Louisiana, one
thousand infantry. That portion of the quota of Ken-
tucky destined for New Orleans, twenty-two hundred
men, and a portion of the quota of Tennessee, embarked
upon flatboats to float fifteen hundred miles down the
Ohio and Mississippi waters, had not arrived on the
tenth of December. Through the energetic efforts of the
Governor, aided by Major Edward Livingston and the
Committee of Safety, the quota of Louisiana was made up.
With these, General Coffee's Tennesseans, Major Hinds'
Mississippians, and one thousand regular troops, there
were less than three thousand men for defensive opera-
tions yet available.

BATTLE OF THE GUNBOATS WITH THE FLEET OF BARGES.

An event was soon to happen which seemed for the
time an irreparable disaster to the American cause. Com-
modore Daniel T. Patterson, in command of the Amer-

28 The Battle of New Orleans

ican naval forces, on learning of the approach of the
British fleet, sent Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones,
with five gunboats, one tender, and a dispatch boat
toward the passes out to Ship Island, to watch the move-
ments of the British vessels. This little flotilla, barely
enough for scout duty at sea, was the extent of our naval
forces in the Gulf waters near. The orders were to fall
back, if necessary, from near Cat Island to the Rigolets;
and there, if hard pressed, to sink or be sunk by the
enemy. Moving in waters too shallow for the large
English ships to pursue, until the thirteenth, Lieuten-
ant Jones sailed for Bay St. Louis. Sighting a large
number of the enemy's barges steering for Pass Christian,
he headed for the Rigolets. But the wind having died
away and an adverse current set in, the little fleet could
get no farther than the channel inside of Melheureux
Island, being there partially grounded. Early on the
morning of the fourteenth, a flotilla of barges formed
in line was discovered coming from the direction of the
enemy's ships, evidently to overtake and attack the
becalmed gunboats. The two tenders, lying beyond the
aid of the latter, were captured after a spirited resistance.
The guns of these were now turned upon Lieutenant
Jones' gunboats in a combined attack of the fleet of
barges, forty-five in number, and a supporting squad of

The Battle of New Orleans 29

marines. The total equipment was twelve hundred men
and forty-five pieces of artillery. The American
defensive forces were seven small gunboats, manned by
thirty guns and one hundred and eighty men. The
enemy's oarsmen advanced their entire fleet in line of bat-
tle until the fire from the gunboats caused severe losses
and some confusion in the movements of the barges.
They then separated in three divisions and renewed the
attack. The battle became general, and was contested
fiercely for nearly two hours, when the gunboats, over-
powered by numbers, were forced to surrender, losing
six men killed and thirty-five wounded, among the latter
Lieutenants Jones, Speddin, and McKeever, each in com-
mand of a boat. Several barges of the enemy were sunk,
while their losses in killed and wounded were estimated
at two to three hundred. Among the wounded were
Captain Lockyer, in command, and other officers.

The preparations for defense on shore were now pushed
forward with redoubled energy. General Jackson gave
unremitting attention to the fortifying of all points which
seemed available for the approach of the enemy; it was
impossible to know at what point he might choose to
make his first appearance on land. Captain Newman,
in command of Fort Petit Coquille, at the Rigolets, next
to Lake Pontchartrain, was reinforced, and the order

30 The Battle of New Orleans

given to defend the post to the last extremity. If com-
pelled to abandon it, he was instructed to fall back on
Chef Menteur. Swift messengers were sent to Generals
Carroll and Thomas to make all speed possible with the
Tennessee and Kentucky troops on their way to New
Orleans. Also, a courier was dispatched to General Win-
chester, commanding at Mobile, warning of the possible
danger of another attack on that place, since the loss of
the gunboats. Major Lacoste, with the dragoons of Feli-
ciana and his militia battalion of colored men, was directed,
with two pieces of artillery, to take post at the confluence
of Bayous Sauvage and Chef Menteur, throw up a redoubt,
and guard the road. Major Plauche was sent with his
battalion to Bayou St. John, north of the city, Major
Hughes being in command of Fort St. John. Captain
Jugeant was instructed to enlist and form into companies
all the Choctaw Indians he could collect, a mission that
proved nearly barren of results. The Baratarians, mus-
tered into ranks and drilled for important services under
their own officers, Captains Dominique You, Beluche,
Sougis, Lagand, and Golson, were divided out to the forts
named, and to other places where expert gunners were
most needed.

On the eighteenth of December a grand review of the
Louisiana troops was held by Jackson in front of the

The Battle of New Orleans 31

old Cathedral, now Jackson Square. The day was mem-
orable by many incidents, not all in harmony with the
purposes and plans of the civil and military leaders of
defense. The entire population of the city and vicinity
were present to witness the novel scenes, men and women
vying with each other in applauding and enthusing the
martial ardor of the soldiers on parade. Such an army,
hastily improvised in a few brief days from city, country,
and towns, made up of a composite of divergent race
elements, as was that of the Louisiana contingent with
the command of Jackson at New Orleans, was perhaps
never paralleled in the history of warfare before. Major
Plauche's battalion of uniformed companies was made
up mainly of French and Spanish Creoles, with some of
American blood, enlisted from the city; and from the
same source came Captain Scale's Rifle Company, mostly
American residents. The Louisiana militia, under Gen-
eral Morgan, were of the best element of the country
parishes, of much the same race-types as Plauche's men,
of newer material, and without uniforms. Then came
the battalion of Louisiana free men of color, nearly three
hundred strong, led by Major Lacoste, and another bat-
talion of men of color, two hundred and fifty in number,
commanded by Major Daquin, recruited from the refu-
gees in New Orleans from St. Domingo, who had taken

32 The Battle of New Orleans

part in the bloody strifes in that island, and who bore
like traditional hatred to the English, with all who spoke
the French tongue. Add to the above a small detachment
of Choctaw Indians; and lastly, the loyal pirates of
Lafitte, who were patriotic enough to scorn the gold of
England, and brave enough to offer their services and
their lives, if need be, to the cause of our country; and
together, these give us a picture of the men under review,
whom Jackson was to lead to battle in a few days against
the best- trained troops of Europe. Though of new
material, and suddenly called into service, this provincial
contingent of twelve hundred men, animated with "the
spirit of battle against an invading foe, proved them-
selves, when ably officered, the equals of the best troops
in the field.

JACKSON DECLARES MARTIAL LAW.

On the sixteenth, two days before the review, General
Jackson issued from his headquarters an order declaring
"the city and environs of New Orleans under martial
law." This imperious edict was resorted to in the firm
belief that only the exercise of supreme military authority
could awe into silence all opposition to defensive opera-
tions. Every person entering the city was required to

The Battle of New Orleans 33

report himself to headquarters, and any one departing
from it must procure a pass. The street lamps were
extinguished at nine o'clock at night, and every one found
passing after that hour was subject to arrest. All persons
capable of bearing arms who did not volunteer were
pressed into the military or naval service. Rumors were
rife that British spies were secretly prowling in the city,
and coming into the American camp. Reports of dis-
loyal utterances and suspicious proceedings on the part
of certain citizens came repeatedly to the ears of the
commander-in-chief. More serious yet, he was aroused
to fierce anger by personal and direct intelligence that
certain leading and influential members of the Legisla-
ture favored a formal capitulation and surrender of
Louisiana to the enemy, by that body, in the event
of a formidable invasion, for the greater security of their
persons and property. These persons had circulated a
story that Jackson would burn the city and all valuable
property in reach rather than let it fall into the hands
of the British.

Determined that disloyalty should find no foothold
to mar his military plans, or to disaffect the soldiery or
citizens, General Jackson, on the day previous to his
declaration of martial law, issued the following spirited
order :

34 The Battle of New Orleans

To THE CITIZENS OF NEW ORLEANS.

The Major-general commanding, has, with astonishment
and regret, learned that great consternation and alarm per-
vade your city. It is true the enemy is on our coast and
threatens to invade our territory; but it is equally true that,
with union, energy, and the approbation of Heaven, we will
beat him at every point his temerity may induce him to set
foot on our soil. The General, with still greater astonish-
ment, has heard that British emissaries have been permitted
to propagate seditious reports among you, that the threatened
invasion is with a view to restore the country to Spain, from
the supposition that some of you would be willing to return
to your ancient government. Believe not such incredible
tales; your Government is at peace with Spain. It is the
vital enemy of your country, — the common enemy of man-
kind,— the highway robber of the world, that threatens you.
He has sent his hirelings among you with this false report,
to put you off your guard, that you may fall an easy prey.
Then look to your liberties, your property, the chastity of
your wives and daughters. Take a retrospect of the con-
duct of the British army at Hampton, and other places where
it entered our country, and every bosom which glows with
patriotism and virtue, will be inspired with indignation, and
pant for the arrival of the hour when we shall meet and revenge
these outrages against the laws of civilization and humanity.

The General calls upon the inhabitants of the city to trace
this unfounded report to its source, and bring the propagator
to condign punishment. The rules and articles of war annex
the punishment of death to any person holding secret cor-

The Battle of New Orleans 35

respondence with the enemy, creating false alarm, or supply-
ing him with provision. The General announces his deter-
mination rigidly to execute the martial law in all cases which
may come within his province.

By command. THOMAS L. BUTLER,

Aid-de-camp.

BAYOU BlENVENUE AND THE BRITISH SPIES OF THE
FISHERMEN'S VILLAGE.

Bayou Bienvenue, formerly called St. Frances River,
drains all the waters of a swamp-basin, of triangular
form and about eighty square miles in surface, bounded
on the west by New Orleans, on the northwest by Chef
Menteur, and on the east by Lake Borgne, into which
it empties. It receives the waters of several other bayous
from the surrounding cypress swamps and prairies. It
is navigable for vessels of one hundred tons burden as
far as the junction with old Piernas Canal, twelve miles
from its mouth. It is about one hundred and twenty
yards in width, and has from six to nine feet of water at
the bar, according to the flow of the tides. Its principal
branch is Bayou Mazant, which runs to the southwest
and receives the waters of the canals of the old plantations
of Villere, Lacoste, and Laronde, on and near which the
British army encamped, about eight miles below New

36 The Battle of New Orleans

Orleans. The banks of these bayous, which drain the
swamp lands on either side of the Mississippi, are usually
about twelve feet below the banks of the river, which
have been elevated by the deposit of sediment from over-
flows for centuries. These slopes, from the banks back
to the swamps, usually ten to eighteen hundred yards,
drain off the waters and form the tillable lands of the
sugar and cotton planters. They are protected from
overflows by levees thrown up on the banks of the river.
These plantation lands formed the only ground in this
country for the encampment of a large army, or avail-
able for a march on New Orleans. On nearly all the
large sugar plantations canals were cut from the bank
of the river running back to the swamp, to furnish at
high tides water-power for mills which did the grinding
or sawing for the plantations.

Bayous Bienvenue and Mazant, as mentioned, formed
a waterway from Lake Borgne to the rear of the planta-
tions of Villere, Lacoste, and Laronde, situated but two
or three hours' easy march to the city, to which there
was a continuous roadway through the plantation lands
between the river and the swamps. The enemy was fully
informed of every point of approach by spies within the
military lines, and since the capture of the gunboats
determined on an attempt to secretly invade the environ-

The Battle of New Orleans 37

ing country, and to assault and capture New Orleans by
surprise. But one mile from Lake Borgne, on the low
bank of Bayou Bien venue, was a village of Spanish
and Portuguese fishermen and their families. From the
bayous and adjacent lakes they furnished the city markets
with fish, and were familiar with every body of water and
every nook and inlet for many miles around. A number of
these became notorious as spies in the pay of the British.
Of this treacherous little colony, the names of Maringuier,
Old Luiz, Francisco, Graviella, Antonio el Italiano, El
Campechano, Mannellilo, and Garcia became known as
connected with this disloyalty. These served the Eng-
lish as pilots to their barges, as guides to the best
approaches to New Orleans, and as ready spies within
and without. The English commander in charge sent
Captain Peddie, of the army, on the twentieth of Decem-
ber, as a spy in the disguise of one of these fishermen,
to inspect and report upon the feasibility of entering
with the army at the mouth of Bayou Bienvenue, land-
ing at the plantations above and marching suddenly by
this route on the city. Old Luiz and two others of the
fishermen were his guides. He safely and without sus-
picion penetrated to Villere's plantation, viewed the field
for encampment there, and noted the easy route of
approach to the city, without an obstruction in the way.

38 The Battle of New Orleans

His report being most favorable, the British officer in
command decided at once on invasion and attack from
this direction.

FIVE THOUSAND BRITISH TROOPS ENTER BAYOU BIEN-
VENUE AND LAND NEAR VlLLERE'S PLANTATION.

By Jackson's order, Major Villere, son of General
Villere, the owner of the plantation, placed a picket of
twelve men at Fisherman's Village on the twenty-first,
to watch and report promptly in case the enemy appeared
there. After midnight, near the morning of the twenty-
third, five advance barges bearing British troops glided
noiselessly into Bienvenue from Lake Borgne, capturing
the picket of twelve men without firing a gun. Soon
after, the first division of the invading army, twenty-five
hundred strong, under command of Colonel Thornton,
appeared in eighty barges, and passed up the bayous to
Villere 's canal, where a landing was effected by the dawn
of day. After a brief rest and breakfast, the march of
two miles was made to Villere 's plantation, arriving
there at half -past eleven. The troops at once surrounded
the house of General Villere, and surprised and made
prisoners a company of the Third Louisiana Militia
stationed there. Major Villere, after capture, escaped
through a window at the risk of his life, reached the

The Battle of New Orleans 39

river bank and crossed over in a small boat, and hastened
to New Orleans with the startling news. Colonel Laronde
also escaped, and reached headquarters in the early
afternoon; on the day before he had reported the sight-
ing of several suspicious vessels out upon Lake Borgne,
seemingly to reconnoiter.

Jackson had ordered Majors Latour and Tatum, of
his engineer corps, to reconnoiter in the direction of the
Laronde and Lacoste plantations, and to carefully exam-
ine this avenue of approach by the enemy. These officers
left the city at eleven o'clock, and had reached Laronde 's,
when they met several persons fleeing toward the city,
who told them of the arrival of the British at Villere's,
and of the capture of the outpost there. It was then
but half- past one o'clock. The two scouts put spurs
to their horses, and by two o'clock the General was
informed of the facts. With that heroic promptness
and intuition characteristic and ever present with him,
he exclaimed with fierce emphasis: "By the eternal! the
enemy shall not sleep upon our soil!" The invading move-
ment was a complete surprise, and there was not yet a
defensive work to obstruct the march of the British upon
the coveted city. Only genius and courage of the highest
order could have met successfully such an emergency,
and Jackson alone seemed equal to the occasion.

40 The Battle of New Orleans

JACKSON DETERMINES TO ATTACK — BLOODY NIGHT-BATTLE
OF THE TWENTY-THIRD OF DECEMBER.

Orders were issued rapidly, as the report of the alarm-
gun gave notice to all to be ready. The troops were
stationed within a radius of a few miles of the city, in
garrisons. Major Plauche was summoned to bring down
his battalion of uniformed volunteers from Bayou St.
John, which summons was obeyed in a run all the way.
General Coffee, encamped four miles above the city, under
similar order, was at headquarters within one hour.
Colonel McRae, with the Seventh regulars, Lieutenant
Spotts, with two pieces of artillery, and Lieutenant Belle-
vue, with a detachment of marines, were all formed on
the road near Montruil's plantation. Coffee's riflemen
and Hinds' Mississippi dragoons formed the advance in
the order of march. Beale's Orleans Rifles followed
closely after, and by four o'clock these had taken position
at Rodrique's Canal. The battalion of men of color,
under Major Daquin, the Forty-fourth regulars, under
Captain Baker, and Plauche's men, were in close support-
ing distance.

Commodore Patterson was requested to arm such ves-
sels lying in the river as were ready, and to drop down
and take station opposite the enemy. The schooner

The Battle of New Orleans 41

Carolina was put in position; the sloop of war Louisiana
could not steer in the stream. Governor Claiborne, with
the First, Second, and Fourth Louisiana Militia, occupied
a post in the plain of Gentilly, to cover the city on the
side of Chef Menteur. A picket of five mounted men
was fired on near the line of Laronde's and Lacoste's
plantations, and driven in about four o'clock. A negro
was apprehended, who had been sent by the British with
printed copies of a proclamation in Spanish and French,
in terms as follows: " Louisianians ! remain quiet in your
houses; your slaves shall be preserved to you, and your
property respected. We make war only against Ameri-
cans." This was signed by Admiral Cochrane and Gen-
eral Keene. Other copies were found.

About nightfall the troops were formed in line of battle,
the left composed of a part of Coffee's men, Beale's Rifles,
the Mississippi dragoons, and some other mounted rifle-
men, in all about seven hundred and thirty men, General
Coffee in command, Colonel Laronde as guide. Under
cover of the darkness, they took position back of the plan-
tation of the latter. The right formed on a perpendicu-
lar line from the river to the garden of Laronde's plan-
tation, and on its principal avenue. The artillery occu-
pied the high road, supported by a detachment of marines.
On the left of the artillery were stationed the Seventh

42 The Battle of New Orleans

and Forty-fourth regulars, Plauche's and Daquin's bat-
talions, and a squad of Choctaw Indians, all under the
command of Colonel Ross.

The second invading division of the British army, made
up of the Twenty-first, Forty-fourth, and Ninety-third
Regiments, with a corps of artillery, in all about twenty-
five hundred men, was disembarked at the terminus of
Villere Canal at half -past seven o'clock in the evening
of the twenty- third, just as the roar of the ship's cannon
announced the opening of the night battle. At seven
o'clock Commodore Patterson had anchored the Carolina
in the Mississippi, as requested, in front of the British
camp, and but a good musket-shot away. Such was the
security felt by the enemy in camp that they stood upon
the levee and viewed her as a common boat plying the
river. Within thirty minutes she opened upon the enemy
a destructive fire which spread consternation and havoc
throughout their camp. In half an hour more they were
driven out, with many killed and wounded. About eight
o'clock the troops on the right, led by Jackson himself,
began the attack on the enemy's left. The Seventh
and Forty-fourth regulars became hotly engaged along
the line, supported by McRae's artillery. Plauche's and
Daquin's battalions coming up, the fighting became furi-
ous from the road to Laronde's garden. The British

The Battle of New Orleans 43

were forced back within the limits of Lacoste's plantation,
the combatants being often intermingled and fighting
hand-to-hand, almost undistinguishable in the darkness
of night, made denser by the smoke of battle and the
gathering fog.

Meanwhile, Coffee's troops, from the rear of Laronde's
plantation, were moved to the boundary limits of Lacoste
and Villere, with a \tiew of taking the enemy in the rear.
Coffee extended his front and ordered his men to move
forward in silence and to fire without orders, taking aim
as best they could. They drove the enemy before them,
and took a second position in front of Lacoste's planta-
tion. Here was posted the Eighty-fifth Regiment of
the British army, which was forced back by the first fire
toward their main camp. Captain Scale's Riflemen
advanced on the left into the British camp at Villere 's,
driving the enemy before them and taking some prison-
ers, but sustained some loss before joining Coffee again.
Coffee's division finally took a last position in front of the
old levee, near Laronde's boundary, where it harassed
the enemy as they fell back, driven by Jackson on the
right. By ten o'clock the British had fallen back to their
camp in discomfiture, where they were permitted to lay
in comparative quiet until morning, except their harass-
ment from the artillery fire of the schooner Carolina.

44 The Battle of New Orleans

In the darkness and confusion of combat at dead of night
lines were broken and order lost at times, until it was
difficult to distinguish friends from foes. General Jack-
son led his troops back to the opening point of the attack
and rested them there until morning, when he fell back
over one mile to Rodrique's Canal, the position selected
for the defense of the city.

Three hundred and fifty of the Louisiana militia,
under command of General David Morgan, were stationed
at English Turn, seven miles below Villere's, and nearly
fourteen miles from New Orleans. Intelligence of the
arrival of the British at Villere's, on the twenty-third,
reached General Morgan's camp at one o'clock in the
afternoon of the day. Officers and men expressed an
eagerness to be led against the enemy; but General Mor-
gan, not having then received orders from Jackson to
that effect, deemed it prudent to hold them waiting in
camp. At half -past seven o'clock, when the guns from
the Carolina were heard bringing on the battle, it was
found difficult to restrain them longer. Morgan finally,
at the urgent request of his officers, gave orders to go
forward, which the troops received with ardor. They
reached a point near Jumonville's plantation, just below
Villere's, when a picket guard in advance met a picket
force of the enemy and fired on it; the fire was returned.

The Battle of New Orleans 45

A reconnoiter failing to discover the numbers and position
of the enemy in his front, Morgan took a position in a
field until three o'clock in the morning, when he marched
his men back to camp. The failure of this command
to join issue in this battle, in concert with the other com-
mands of Jackson's army, was apparently most unfortu-
nate. The records do not show what orders, if any, were
sent from headquarters by Jackson to General Morgan
in summoning his forces in the afternoon of the day for
the attack at night. It is barely possible that the Gen-
eral neglected to dispatch an order to, or to communicate
with, the commander of so important a body of troops,
in numbers nearly one fifth of the entire American forces
engaged, in a critical hour when every available soldier
was needed on the field of combat. A swift messenger
sent by Jackson from headquarters at two o'clock, as to
other outpost commands, could easily have reached Eng-
lish Turn at five o'clock. General Morgan knew that the
invading army were in bivouac seven miles above. By
eight o'clock he could have had his troops in attacking
distance of the enemy, and in their rear. When Jackson
and Coffee assaulted the British lines at eight o'clock,
and drove them back in confusion upon their camp, a
spirited surprise attack by Morgan's command in the rear,
any moment before nine o'clock, would probably have

46 The Battle of New Orleans

routed the entire British division engaged and forced
them to lay down their arms or retreat to their boats.
He did move his command forward, and halt them
at some distance from the enemy, but it was probably
too late. The battle was over and the opportunity
gone.

An after-incident throws a ray of light upon the criti-
cism of the day upon the above affair. Honorable
Magloire Guichard, President of the House of Representa-
tives, in his testimony before the Committee of Inquiry
on the military measures employed by Jackson against
the Legislature, said:

On the twenty-seventh of December, when I got home, I
found Colonel Declouet (of Morgan's command), who had
just crossed the river. Amid the conversation of the evening,
I expressed my surprise at his not having attacked the Brit-
ish from the lower side, on the night of the twenty -third ; that
had he done so with the men under his command, at the same
time with the troops coming from the city, all would have termi-
nated on that evening, and the British would have laid down
their arms. He expressed great sorrow that he had not been
the master to do so. He declared that this was his intention,
but that General Morgan refused to comply with his request.
Afterwards, having resolved to come toward midnight to recon-
noitre, they had met with a small picket, who fired upon them ;
they returned the fire, and then retired.

The Battle of New Orleans 47

The British loss in this initial night-battle is put by
our authorities at four to five hundred in killed, wounded,
and prisoners. Their own official reports admit three to
five hundred. The Americans had twenty-four killed,
one hundred and fifteen wounded, and seventy-four made
prisoners. The fall of Colonel Lauderdale, of Mississippi,
was much lamented.

So unique in the annals of military experience was this
fiercely fought night-battle, so startling in its surprise
of the bold and confident Britons, and so characteristic
of Jackson's grim humor of war, that it is interesting to
know the impressions it made upon the minds of the
enemy. With this view, we quote a vivid description
from the history of an English officer who was in the
campaigns against Napoleon, with Ross and Pakenham
in America, and who was a participant in this battle,
Captain Robert Gleig. He says:

About half -past seven at night our attention was drawn to
a large vessel which seemed to be stealing up the river, oppo-
site our camp, when her anchor was dropped and her sails
quietly furled. She was repeatedly hailed, but gave no answer.
An alarm spread through our bivouac, and all thought of sleep
was abandoned. Several musket shots were fired at her, when
we heard a commanding voice cry out: "Give them this for
the honor of America!" The words were instantly followed
by the flashes of her guns, and. a deadly shower of grape swept
down numbers in our camp.

48 The Battle of New Orleans

Against this dreadful fire we had nothing as yet to oppose.
We sought shelter under the levee, and listened in painful
silence to the pattering of shot which fell among our troops,
and to the shrieks and groans of the wounded who lay near by.
The night was dark as pitch. Except the flashes of the enemy's
guns, and the glare of our own deserted fires, not an object
could be distinguished. In this state we lay helpless for nearly
an hour, when a straggling fire of musketry, driving in our pick-
ets, warned us to prepare for a closer and more desperate strife.
This fire was presently succeeded by a fearful yell, while the
heavens became illuminated on all sides by a semi-circular
blaze of musketry.

Rushing from under the bank, the Eighty-fifth and Ninety-
fifth Regiments flew to support the pickets; while the Fourth,
stealing to the rear, formed close column as a reserve. But
to describe this action is out of the question, for it was such a
battle as the annals of warfare can hardly parallel. Each
officer, as he was able to collect twenty or thirty men around
him, advanced into the midst of the enemy, where they fought
hand to hand, bayonet to bayonet, and sword to sword, with
the tumult and ferocity of Homer's combats before the walls of
Troy. Attacked unexpectedly in the dark, and surrounded
by enemies before we could arrange to oppose them, no order
or discipline of war could be preserved. We were mingled
with the Americans before we could tell whether they were
friends or foes. The consequence was that more feats of indi-
vidual gallantry were performed in the course of the conflict
than many campaigns might have afforded. The combat
having begun at eight in the evening, and long and obstinately
contested, continued until three in the morning; but the vie-

The Battle of New Orleans 49

tory was decidedly ours, for the Americans retreated in the
greatest disorder, leaving us in possession of the field. Our
losses, however, were enormous. Not less than five hundred
men had fallen, many of whom were our first and best officers.
The recall being sounded, our troops were soon brought
together, forming in front of the ground where we had at first
encamped. Here we remained until the morn, when, to avoid
the fire of the vessel, we betook ourselves to the levee on the
bank, and lay down. Here we lay for some hours, worn out
with fatigue and loss of sleep, and shivering in the cold of a
frosty morning, not daring to light a fire or cook a meal. When-
ever an attempt was made, the ship's guns opened on us. Thus
was our army kept prisoners for an entire day.

This was not a field victory for either combatant, but
rather a drawn battle, as each party fell back to the lines
occupied at the opening. It was a very great victory
for the Americans in its bearings on the final issues of
the campaign. The attack of Jackson was to the British
like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. It paralyzed
and checked them on the first day, and at the first place
of their encampment on shore, and enabled him to adopt
measures to beat back the invaders in every attempt
they made for a further advance inland. The enemy
had found an open way and expected an easy march,
with a certainty that the Crescent City, by Christmas Day,
would become an easy prey for their "Loot and Lust,"

50 The Battle of New Orleans

as Admiral Cochrane is said to have promised. Instead
of a garden of delights, they had walked into a death-
trap at the gate of entrance. Confidence and prestige
were shaken in the front of a foe equal in valor and as
skilled in arms as themselves. The rude reception given
by Jackson had compelled the army of the invaders to
halt in its first camp, and to re-form, to reinforce, and to
rehabilitate its plans, before daring another step forward.
This delay, fatal to the British, probably saved the city.
On the next morning early (of the twenty-fourth) the
first division of the British army would have been rein-
forced by the second division landed on the night of- the
battle, giving five thousand fresh veteran troops in bivouac
at Villere's, with which to march upon the city. It was
but seven miles distant, with a broad, level highway
leading to it. Jackson could have opposed to this army
not over two thousand men in the open field, where every
advantage would have been with the enemy. With the
bravery and discipline the latter showed in the surprise-
battle at night, they would have made an irresistible
march to victory against the city, had not the invincible
Jackson paralyzed them with this first blow. It was a
master-stroke, worthy the genius of a great commander.
The valor of the English soldiers was rarely, if ever,
surpassed on a bloody field of contest. There was no

The Battle of New Orleans 5 1

panic, no rout, no cowering under the murderous fire
of the ship's guns, or when the blaze of musketry
encircled them in the darkness of the night. Although
the ranks were broken and little order prevailed, the
men rallied to the calls of the nearest officers, and
plunged into the thickest of the strife. Only this vet-
eran discipline and stubborn British courage saved the
enemy from rout and worse disaster. Colonel Thorn-
ton, the bravest and most skillful of the officers of the
English army, as he repeatedly proved himself, com-
manded on this occasion. General Keene had not yet
come up.

The American forces engaged were: United States
regulars, Seventh Regiment, Major Peire, four hundred
and sixty-five men, and Forty-fourth Regiment, Captain
Baker, three hundred and thirty-one men; marines,
Lieutenant Bellevue, sixty-six; artillery, McRae, twenty-
two; Major Plauche's battalion, two hundred and eighty-
seven; Major Daquin's battalion of St. Domingo men
of color, two hundred and ten; Choctaws, Captain Jug-
eant, eighteen; Coffee's Tennessee Brigade, five hundred
and sixty-three; Orleans Rifles, Captain Beale, sixty-
two; and Mississippi Dragoons, Major Hinds, one hundred
and seven; in all, twenty-one hundred and thirty-one
men.

52 The Battle of New Orleans

JACKSON ENTRENCHES AT RODRIQUE'S OLD CANAL SITE.

As mentioned, Jackson occupied the line of Rod-
rique's Canal, two miles above the British camp at Vil-
lere's, and five miles below the city. The space from the
river here back to the swamp was but seventeen hundred
yards, making it an admirable line for defense. Early
on the twenty-fourth every available man was put to
work throwing up a breastwork on the upper side of the
canal, while pieces of artillery were planted at command-
ing points for immediate emergency. Negroes from the
adjacent plantations were called in to expedite the
work of building the entrenchment and suitable redoubts,
as had been done at other works of fortification and defense.
On the twenty-fifth, General Morgan was ordered to aban-
don the post at English Turn and to move his command
of Louisiana militia to a position on the right bank of the
river, at Flood's plantation, opposite Jackson's camp.

THE SHIP CAROLINA BURNED WITH HOT SHOT — ARTIL-
LERY DUEL ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.

The enemy determined to destroy the ship Carolina,
as she lay out in the river, from whose deadly broadsides
by day and by night they had been so terribly harassed
since the opening of the night battle of the twenty-third.

The Battle of New Orleans 53

Having brought up their artillery from their landing-place,
they erected a battery commanding that part of the
river, with a furnace for heating shot. On the twenty-
seventh, they opened fire in range, and in fifteen minutes
the schooner was set on fire by the red-hot missiles and
burned to the water's edge. The fire of the battery was
next directed against the Louisiana, a larger war-vessel,
the preservation of which was of great importance.
Lieutenant Thompson, in command, with the combined
efforts of one hundred men of his crew, succeeded under
fire of the battery in towing her beyond the range of
the guns of the enemy.

On the evening of the twenty-seventh the British
moved forward in force, drove in the American advance
lines, and occupied Chalmette's plantation, one mile
above Laronde's. During the night they began to estab-
lish several batteries along the river. At dawn of day
on the twenty-eighth they advanced in columns on the
road, preceded by several pieces of artillery, some play-
ing upon the Louisiana and others on the American lines.
The ship's crew waited until the columns of the enemy
were well in range, when they opened upon them a
destructive fire, which silenced their guns. While this
oblique fire fell upon the flank of the British, the batteries
on the American line answered them from the front with

54 The Battle of New Orleans

much effect. One shot from the Louisiana killed fifteen
of the enemy's men. Some of his guns were dismounted,
and he was driven from several of his batteries. In seven
hours' cannonading the ship fired eight hundred shot.
The enemy threw into the American ranks many Con-
greve rockets, evidently misled in the hope that these
ugly-looking missiles would strike terror to the ranks
of our troops. These soon learned that they were not
so dangerous as they appeared. The infantry this day
did not engage in more than heavy picket skirmishing,
and in checking the demonstrations of the enemy on
our lines. This movement all along the line was evi-
dently a feint in force, to draw from Jackson's army
information as to the powers of resistance it might offer
and to ascertain its most vulnerable point of attack.
The loss of the British this day was estimated at two
hundred; that of the Americans much less, as they were
mainly sheltered from the enemy's fire. There were nine
killed and eight wounded.

DEFENSES ON THE WEST BANK OF THE RIVER.

Realizing that the enemy might suddenly throw a
force across the river, and by a flank movement up the
right bank gain a position opposite the city, from
which, by shot and shell, he might compel a surrender,

The Battle of New Orleans 55

Jackson sent Major Latour, chief of his engineer corps,
to the west side, with orders to select a position most
suitable for a fortified line in the rear of General Mor-
gan's camp. Bois-Gervais Canal, three miles below
New Orleans, was fixed upon, and one hundred and fifty
negroes from the plantations near at once set to work.
In six days they completed the parapet, with a glacis
on the opposite side.

Commodore Patterson removed from the Louisiana
a number of her guns, which he placed in battery in front
of Jordon's plantation, on the right bank, with which he
did important service to the end of the campaign. This
formidable battery was formed to give a deadly flank-
ing fire on the enemy's ranks from the opposite bank of
the river. It was manned and served by sailors, mostly
landed from the Carolina when she was burned. They
had been enlisted about the city after the gunboats were
destroyed; men of all nations, not a third of them speak-
ing the English language. The constant daily fire of this
battery caused the British to fall back from Chalmette's
and Bienvenue's houses and to seek safer quarters in
the rear, after the artillery duels of the twenty-eighth.

Captain Henly, of the late ship Carolina, was placed
in command of a strong redoubt on the bank of the river,
opposite New Orleans, around which was a fosse twenty-

56 The Battle of New Orleans

five feet in width, the earth from which was thrown up
to form a steep glacis, from the summit of the wall serv-
ing as a parapet to the brink of the fosse. Here a battery
of two twenty-four pounders commanded at once the
road and the river back to the swamp.

The Tennesseans, placed on the left, and operating
in the undergrowth of the woods of the swamp, were a
continual terror to the British sentinels and outposts.
Clad in their brown hunting-dress, they were indistin-
guishable in the bush, while with their long rifles they
picked off some of the British daily. The entrenchment
line was being daily strengthened.

A SECOND ATTEMPT TO BREACH THE AMERICAN WORKS,

ON THE FIRST OF JANUARY — GREAT

ARTILLERY DUEL.

On the evening of the twenty-fifth, Sir Edward Pak-
enham arrived at the British headquarters, and at once
assumed chief command of the army in person. He
was a favorite of Lord Wellington in the Peninsular cam-
paigns, and held in high esteem by the English Govern-
ment and people. His presence imparted great enthu-
siasm to the officers and men of the army, a majority of
whom had served under him in other wars. The invad-

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The Battle of New Orleans 57

ing British forces were now swelled to over ten thousand
men for present service. On the thirtieth and thirty-
first, the enemy was ominously busy in throwing up
redoubts and in pushing his offensive works in threaten-
ing nearness to our lines. In front of Bienvenue's house
he constructed a battery, of hogsheads of sugar taken
from the near plantations, the season for grinding the
cane and converting the product into sugar having just
closed. A redoubt was also begun at a point nearer the
wood, fronting the American left, and some guns mounted
by the thirty-first. A heavy cannonading was opened
on this day, from this and other batteries along the Brit-
ish front, to which our own guns responded, including
those of the marine battery across the river, until two
in the afternoon.

These demonstrative movements of the enemy, with
his busy reconnoitering, foreboded an attack in force.

In the night of the thirty-first he erected, under cover
of darkness, two other batteries of heavy guns at a dis-
tance of six hundred yards from the front of Jackson's
entrenchments, on a ditch running along the side of Chal-
mette's plantation, at distances of three and six hundred
yards from the river. During the night the men work-
ing on the platforms and mounting the ordnance could
be distinctly heard.

58 The Battle of New Orleans

On the morning of the ist of January, 1815, the earth
was veiled by a dense fog until eight o'clock. As the
misty cloud lifted above the horizon, the enemy opened
up a terrific fire from his three batteries in front, mount-
ing respectively two, eight, and eight pieces of heavy
cannon. A meteor-like shower of Congreve rockets accom-
panied the balls, filling the air for fifteen minutes with
these missiles of terror. The two batteries nearest the
river directed their fire against McCarty's house, some
hundreds of yards behind our front line, where Jackson
and his staff had their headquarters. In less than ten
minutes more than one hundred balls, rockets, and shells
struck the house. Bricks, splinters of wood, and broken
furniture were sent flying in all directions, making the
premises dangerously untenable. General Jackson and
his staff occupied the house at the time; yet, strange
to say, not a person was even wounded. There is no
account that the old hero " ingloriously fled," but it is
in evidence that he retired with commendable dispatch to
a safer place.

Though the batteries of the enemy were in a better
position, on a lower plane, and with a narrower front
than those of the Americans, the gunners of the latter
fired with more precision and effect on this day, and on
other occasions, as their own officers afterward admitted.

The Battle of New Orleans 59

In an hour's time the fire from the enemy's side began to
slacken, and continued to abate until noon, when his
two batteries to the right were abandoned. Our balls
dismounted several of his guns early in the day, and in
the afternoon the greater part of his artillery was dis-
mounted or unfit for service. The carriages of three of
the guns on the American side were broken, and two
caissons, with over one hundred rounds of ammunition,
were blown up by rockets, at which the enemy loudly
cheered. The cheeks of the embrasures of our batteries
were formed of cotton bales, which the enemy's balls
struck, sending the cotton flying through the air. The
impression that Jackson's breastwork line was constructed
of bales of cotton is a mistake. Bales of cotton were
used only at the bottom and sides of the embrasures,
for a firmer support for the artillery, beneath a casing
of heavy plank. The British, in the absence of cotton
bales, used hogsheads of sugar, which were conveniently
near, for the same purposes. These our shot easily
knocked to pieces, saturating the damp earth around
with the saccharine sweets. Our breastworks were more
substantially and easily made of the alluvial earth.

The guns of the British batteries nearest the levee
were directed in part against the marine battery across
the river during the day, but with little effect. Before

60 The Battle of New Orleans

the close the enemy's guns were silenced, and several
of them abandoned. The British columns were in readi-
ness, drawn up in several parallel lines, prudently await-
ing in the back ditches and the trenches between the
batteries a favorable moment to advance to an assault
of our lines. In this they were disappointed; the superi-
ority of the American artillery left them no hope of an
advantage by breaching our lines with this arm. That
this was their object their own authorities state. The
losses this day of the Americans were thirty-five killed
and wounded; the enemy admitted a loss of seventy-five.
During the night of the first of January, the latter suc-
ceeded in removing his heavy guns from the dismantled
batteries, dragging them off with much difficulty through
the mired earth.

A VlEW FROM THE ENEMY'S STANDPOINT.

It is interesting to view a situation from an enemy's
standpoint, and to know the impressions made upon an
enemy's mind in a great issue like the one of contest.
We quote again from Gleig's " Campaigns of the English
Army":

It was Christmas Day, and a number of officers, clubbing
their scant stocks of provisions, resolved to dine together in
memory of former times. But at so melancholy a Christmas

The Battle of New Orleans 61

dinner, I do not remember to have been present. We dined
in a barn; of tableware, of viands, and of good cookery,
there was a dismal scarcity. These were matters, however,
of minor thought; the want of many well-known and beloved
faces thrilled us with pain. While sitting at the table, a loud
shriek from outside startled the guests. On running out, we
found that a shot from the enemy's ship had cut almost in
twain the body of a soldier, and he was gasping in death.

On the twenty-eighth, the British army advanced in full
force, supported by ten pieces of artillery, with a view to a final
assault. They did not do much more than the bringing on of
a heavy artillery duel, in which they were severely worsted
and driven back to camp. That the Americans are excellent
shots, as well with artillery as with rifles, we had frequent
cause to acknowledge ; but perhaps on no occasion did they
assert their claim to the title of good artillerymen more effec-
tually than on the present. Scarcely a shot passed over, or
fell short; but all striking full into our ranks, occasioned ter-
rible havoc. The crash of the fire-locks and the fall of the
killed and wounded, caused at first some confusion. In half
an hour three of our heavy guns were dismounted, many gun-
ners killed, and the rest obliged to retire. The infantry ad-
vanced under a heavy discharge of round and grape shot, until
they were checked by a canal in front. A halt was ordered, and
the men commanded to shelter themselves in a wet ditch as best
they could.

Thus it fared with the left of the army. The right failing
to penetrate through the swamp, and faring no better, was
compelled to halt. All thought of a general attack for this
day was abandoned. It only remained to withdraw the troops

62 The Battle of New Orleans

from their perilous position with as little loss as possible. This
was done, not in a body, but regiment by regiment, under the
same discharge which saluted their approach.

There seemed now but one practicable way of assault; to
treat these field-works as one would treat a regular fortification,
by erecting breaching batteries against them, and silencing,
if possible, their guns. To this end three days were employed
in landing heavy cannon, bringing up ammunition, and mak-
ing other preparations, as for a siege. One half of the army
was ordered out on the night of the thirty-first, quietly led up
to within three hundred yards of the enemy's works, and busily
employed in throwing up a chain of works. Before dawn,
six batteries were completed, with thirty pieces of heavy can-
non mounted, when the troops, before the dawn of day, fell
back and concealed themselves behind some thick brush in
the rear. The Americans had no idea of what was going on
until morning came. This whole district was covered with
the stubble of sugar-cane, and every storehouse and barn
was filled with large barrels containing sugar. In throwing
up the works this sugar was used. Rolling the hogsheads
towards the front, they were placed in the parapets of the
batteries. Sugar, to the amount of many thousand pounds
sterling, was thus disposed of.

On the morning of January ist, a thick haze obscured the
sun, and all objects at the distance of a few yards, for some
hours. Finally, as the clouds of fog drifted away, the Ameri-
can camp was fully exposed to view, but three hundred yards
away. The different regiments were upon parade, and pre-
sented a fine appearance. Mounted officers rode to and fro,
bands were playing, and colors floating in the air. All seemed

The Battle of New Orleans 63

gala, when suddenly our batteries opened. Their ranks were
broken; the different corps dispersing, fled in all directions,
while the utmost terror and disorder appeared to prevail.

While this consternation lasted among the infantry, their
artillery remained silent; but soon recovering confidence, they
answered our salute with great precision and rapidity. A
heavy cannonade on both sides continued during the day, until
our ammunition began to fail — our fire slackening, while that
of the enemy redoubled. Landing a number of guns from their
flotilla, they increased their artillery to a prodigious amount.
They also directed their cannon on the opposite bank against
the flank of our batteries, and soon convinced us that all en-
deavors to surpass them in this mode of fighting would be
useless. Once more, we were obliged to retire, leaving our
heavy guns to their fate. The fatigue of officers and men, it
would be difficult to form a conception of. For two entire
nights and days not a man had closed his eyes, except to sleep
amid showers of cannon-balls. We retreated, therefore, baffled
and disheartened. It must be confessed that a murmur of
discontent began to be heard in the camp. The cannon and
mortars of the enemy played on our men night and day, from
thier main position; likewise a deadly fire from eighteen pieces
on the opposite bank swept the entire line of our encampment.
The duty of a picket was as dangerous as to go into battle.
The American sharpshooters harassed them from the time
they went on duty till they were relieved; while to light fires
served only as marks for the enemy's gunners. The murmurs
were not of men anxious to escape from a disagreeable situa-
tion; but rather resembled the growlings of a chained animal,
when he sees his adversary, but can not reach him. All were
eager to bring matters to the issue of a battle, at any sacrifice.

64 The Battle of New Orleans

TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY TROOPS ARRIVE — GOVERN-
MENT CENSURED FOR NEGLECT.

General Carroll's division of Tennessee troops arrived
about this time ; also the Louisiana militia were reinforced
by several companies from the more distant parishes. On
the fourth of January the entire body of Kentucky militia
reached New Orleans, twenty-two hundred in number,
and went into camp on Prevost's plantation. The day
following, seven hundred and fifty of these repaired to
the lines, and went into camp in the rear, arms being
furnished to but five hundred of the number. There
were, at this time, nearly two thousand brave and willing
men within Jackson's lines, whose services were lost to the
army and to the country for the want of arms. The
dangerous delay of the arrival of the troops, and with
this, the failure of the arrival of the arms and munitions
necessary to equip the men for service, had their begin-
ning in the culpable negligence of the War Department
at Washington, of which history has had occasion to
complain. But a more immediate cause for the irrep-
arable delay in the arrival of the stores for arming and
equipping the troops is found in the conduct of the
quartermaster who superintended the shipment of the
same from Pittsburgh. Though he was offered a contract

The Baffle of New Orleans 65

to ship these supplies by a steamboat, and to deliver them
at New Orleans in ample time for use, for some reason
he declined the offer. He then had them loaded on a
flatboat and slowly floated to their destination, when
there was little or no hope of their arrival in time for use.
At the date of the final battle at New Orleans they were
afloat somewhere near the mouth of the Ohio River, and
of course did not arrive until many days after all need
of them was over.

On the twenty-ninth of December, General Jackson
wrote to the Secretary of War these words of protest
against this failure to make provision for his army in
such a crisis as the present:

I lament that I have not the means of carrying on more
offensive operations. The Kentucky troops have not arrived,
and my effective force at this point does not exceed three
thousand men. That of the enemy must be at least double;
both prisoners and deserters agreeing in the statement that
seven thousand landed from their boats.

When the militia of Kentucky were called for, Gov-
ernor Shelby was assured that the United States quarter-
master would furnish transportation for the troops to
New Orleans; but no such officer reported himself, and
no relief came from Washington. The men had rendez-
voused on the banks of the Ohio in waiting, and here

66 The Battle of New Orleans

the expedition must have ended had not Colonel Richard
Taylor, of Frankfort, then quartermaster of the State
militia, on his own credit, borrowed a sum sufficient to
meet the immediate emergency. With this he purchased
such boats as he could, some of which were unfit for the
passage. Camp equippage could not be had in time,
and about thirty pots and kettles were bought at Louis-
ville, one to each company of eighty men. At the mouth
of the Cumberland River they were detained eight days,
with their axes and frows riving boards with which to
patch up their old boats. From this point they started
with half a supply of rations, to which they added as
they could on the way down the Mississippi River. The
men knew there was due them an advance of two months'
pay when ordered out of the State. The United States
quartermaster distributed this pay to the Tennessee
troops who had preceded them, but withheld it from the
Kentuckians. Believing that they would be furnished
suitable clothing or pay, blankets, tents, arms, and
munitions with reasonable promptness, they left home
with little else than the one suit of clothing they wore,
usually of homespun jeans. As a writer has said:
"Rarely, if ever, has it been known of such a body of
men leaving their homes, unprovided as they were, and
risking a difficult passage of fifteen hundred miles in the

The Battle of New Orleans 67

crudest of barges to meet an enemy. They could have
been prompted alone by a patriotic love of country and
a defiance of its enemies." This contribution of Ken-
tucky for the defense of Louisiana was made just after
she had furnished over ten thousand volunteer troops
in the campaigns of Harrison in the Northwest, who made
up the larger part of the soldiers in that army for the
two years previous, and who recently had won the great
victory at the battle of the Thames. Governor Shelby
tendered to the government ten thousand more Ken-
tuckians for the army of the Southwest, if they were
needed to repel the invaders.

It was in the midst of an unusually severe winter in
Louisiana, in a season of almost daily rainfalls, when
the Kentucky and part of the Tennessee troops reached
their destination. They went into camp without tents
or blankets or bedding of straw even, on the open and
miry alluvial ground, with the temperature at times at
freezing point. This destitution and consequent suffer-
ing at once enlisted the attention and sympathies of
the public. The Legislature of Louisiana, in session,
promptly voted six thousand dollars for relief, to which
the generous citizens added by subscription ten thousand
dollars more. With these funds materials were purchased.
The noble women of New Orleans, almost without an
exception, devoted themselves day and night to making

68 The Battle of New Orleans

up the materials into suitable garments and distributing
them as they were most needed. In one week's time the
destitute soldiers were supplied and made comfortable.
These backwoodsmen defenders of their country did not
forget till their dying day the generous and timely minis-
tries in a time of trial, in which the women and the men
of Louisiana, and especially of New Orleans, seemed to
vie; nor did they cease to speak in their praise.

Again, in view of the approaching battle, Jackson, in
correspondence with the Secretary of War, complains
that the arms from Pittsburgh had not yet arrived,
expressing grave apprehensions of the consequences.
"Hardly," said he, "one third of the Kentxicky troops,
so long expected, are armed; and the arms they have
are barely fit for use." He presages that the defeat of
our armies and the dishonor of the officers commanding,
and of the nation, may be consequences chargeable to the
neglect of the government.

The American batteries on both sides of the river
continued day and night to fire upon and harass the
British. Wherever a group of the latter appeared, or an
assailable object presented, the American fire was
directed to disperse or destroy. This incessant cannon-
ading exercised our gunners in the more skillful use of
their pieces, annoyed the enemy in the work of his fortifi-
cations, and rendered his nights well-nigh sleepless.

The Battle of New Orleans 69

JACKSON'S ENTRENCHED LINE, AND THE POSITIONS OF
THE TROOPS AND ARTILLERY.

Jackson's lines, five miles below the city, were along
the canal, or old mill-race, on the border of the planta-
tions of Rodrique and Chalmette. The old ditch, unused
for years, had filled up in part with the washings of
the earth from its sides, and grown over with grass. It
was chosen because it lay at a point the shortest in dis-
tance from the river to the swamp, and thus the more
easily defended. Along the upper bank of the canal a
parapet was raised, with a banquet behind to stand upon,
by earth brought from the rear of the line, thus raising
the original embankment. The opposite side of the canal
was but little raised, forming a kind of glacis.

Plank and posts from the adjacent fencing were taken
to line the parapet and to prevent the earth from falling
back into the canal. All this was done at intervals of
relief, by the different corps, assisted by labor from the
plantations near. It was not until the seventh of Janu-
ary that the whole extent of the breastwork was proof
against the enemy's cannon.

The length of the line was less than one mile, more
than half of which ran from the river to the wood, the
remainder extending into the depths of the wood, taking

70 The Battle of New Orleans

an oblique direction to the left and terminating in the
impassable swamp. The parapet was about five feet
in height and from ten to twenty feet thick at the
base, extending inland from the river one thousand
yards. Beyond that, to the wood and swamp, where
artillery could not well be employed, the breastwork
was formed of a double row of logs, laid one over the
other, leaving a space of two feet, which was filled with
earth.

The artillery was distributed on the line as follows:

Battery i, Captain Humphries, of the United States
artillery, consisted of two twelve-pounders and a howitzer,
on field carriages, and was located thirty yards from the
river, outside the levee.

Battery 2, ninety yards from Battery i; Lieutenant
Norris, of the navy; one twenty -four pounder.

Battery 3, fifty yards from Battery 2; Captains Domi-
nique and Bluche, of the Baratarians; two twenty-
four pounders.

Battery 4, twenty yards from Battery 3; Captain
Crawly, of the navy, one thirty- two .pounder, served by
part of the crew of the Carolina.

Battery 5, Colonel Perry and Lieutenant Carr, of the
artillery; two six-pounders, one hundred and ninety yards
from Battery 4.

The Battle of New Orleans 71

Battery 6, thirty-six yards from Battery 5; Lieuten-
ant Bertel; one brass twelve-pounder.

Battery 7, one hundred and ninety yards from Battery
6; Lieutenants Spotts and Chauveau; one eighteen- and
one six-pounder.

Battery 8, sixty yards from Battery 7 ; one brass
carronade, next Carroll's and Adair's commands.

Out beyond this last piece the line formed a receding
elbow, mentioned above, made unavoidable by great
sinks in the soil, filled with water from the canal. Here,
and beyond into the wood, the ground was so low that
the troops were literally encamped in the water, walking
often in mire a foot in depth, their few tents being pitched
on small mounds surrounded with water or mud. Amid
these discomforts, in this ague-breeding miasm, the Ten-
nesseans, under Generals Coffee and Carroll, and the
Kentuckians, under General Adair, for days endured the
dangers of battle and privations of camp and campaign.
As one historian who was with Jackson's army writes:
"They gave an example of the rarest military virtues.
Though constantly living and sleeping in the mire, these
patriotic men never uttered a complaint or showed the
least symptoms of impatience. It was vitally necessary
to guard that quarter against an attack on our flank, and
to repulse him on the edge of our breastwork, where artil-

72 The Battle of New Orleans

lery could not be employed. We had no battery on the
center and left for thirteen hundred yards, the nature of
the ground not admitting. The Tennesseans and Ken-
tuckians defended this entire two thirds of our line with
rifles and muskets only. As anticipated, the enemy
made his main assault against these rifles and muskets,
in a vain attempt to flank our army."

A view of the positions of the respective corps in Jack-
son's line will be of interest here. The redoubt on the
river, where the right of the line rested, was guarded by a
company of the Seventh United States Infantry, com-
manded by Lieutenant Ross; the artillery was served
by a detachment of the Forty-fourth United States
Infantry, under Lieutenant Marant. At the extremity
of the line, between Battery i and the river, was posted
Captain Beale's company of New Orleans Rifles, thirty
men strong. The Seventh United States Regiment
covered the space from Batteries i to 3, four hundred
and thirty men, commanded by Major Peire. The inter-
val between Batteries 3 and 4 was occupied by Major
Plauche's battalion of Louisiana uniformed companies,
and by Major Lacoste's battalion of Louisiana men of
color, the former two hundred and eighty-nine men, and
the latter two hundred and eighty strong. From Bat-
teries 4 to 5, the line was held by Major Daquin's bat-

ANDREW JACKSON,

Seventh President of the United States

The Battle of New Orleans 73

talion of St. Domingo men of color, one hundred and
fifty in number; and next to these were placed the Forty-
fourth United States Regulars, two hundred and forty
men, commanded by Colonel Baker.

From this point toward the center and left, for eight
hundred yards, the breastwork was manned by the troops
from Tennessee, commanded by General Carroll, and
the Kentuckians, under command of General Adair,
supported by the men of the nearest batteries. General
Carroll reported that he had over one thousand Tennes-
seans in his immediate command, in line of action.
General Adair had, on the morning of the seventh of Janu-
ary, received arms for only six hundred of the Kentucky
troops. He says, in a subsequent correspondence, that
on the seventh, anticipating the attack of the British
the following day, he went into New Orleans, and plead
with the Mayor and Committee of Safety to lend him,
for temporary use, several hundred stand of arms stored
in the city armory and held for the defense of the city
in emergency, and to put a check to any possible insur-
rectionary disturbance. To this the Mayor and committee
finally consented, on the condition that the removal of
the arms out of the city should be kept secret from the
public. To this end, instead of General Adair marching
in and arming his men, the city authorities had the

74 The Battle of New Orleans

arms, concealed in boxes, hauled out to the camp and
delivered there. This was done late in the dusk of the
evening, and on the night of the seventh four hun-
dred more of the Kentuckians were thus armed and
marched forward to take a position with their comrades
just in the rear of the entrenchment, making one thou-
sand Kentuckians under arms and ready for to-morrow's
battle.

In council with General Jackson, General Adair had
suggested that the British would most probably endeavor
to break our line by throwing heavy columns against it
at some chosen point; and that such was the discipline
of their veterans, they might succeed in the effort with-
out very great resistance was made. To be prepared for
such a contingency, it would be well to place a strong
reserve of troops centrally in the rear of the line, ready
at a moment's notice to reinforce the line at the point
of assault. Jackson approved this suggestion, and gave
orders to General Adair to hold the Kentucky troops
of his command in position for such contingency. With
Colonel Slaughter's regiment of seven hundred men, and
Major Reuben Harrison's battalion, three hundred and
five men (the Kentuckians under arms), Adair took posi-
tion just in the rear of Carroll's Tennesseans, occupying
the center of the breastwork line.

The Battle of New Orleans 75

By the statements of their commanders, the joint
forces of the Tennesseans and Kentuckians defending
the left center were about two thousand men. General
Coffee's Tennesseans, five hundred in number, occupied
the remainder of the line on the left, which made an
elbow-curve into the wood, terminating in the swamp.
Ogden's squad of cavalry and a detachment of Attakapas
dragoons, about fifty men in all, were posted near the
headquarters of the commander-in-chief, and these were
later joined by Captain Chauvau, with thirty mounted men
from the city. The Mississippi cavalry, Major Hinds in
command, were held in reserve, one hundred and fifty
strong, posted on Delery's plantation. Detachments of
Colonel Young's Louisiana militia, in all about two hun-
dred and fifty men, were placed on duty at intervals on the
skirts of the wood, behind the line as far as Piernas' Canal.
Four hundred yards in the rear a guard was posted to
prevent any one going out of the camp, and a line of
sentinels was extended to the wood for the same purpose.

The above details show that there were of Jackson's
army on the left bank of the river, on active duty, about
forty-six hundred men; yet on the battle-line of the
eighth of January there were less than four thousand
to engage the enemy. The remainder were in reserve,
or on guard duty at various points.

76 The Battle of New Orleans

From official reports and historical statements derived
from British sources, there were present and in the corps
of the British army of assault, on the morning of the
eighth of January, about eleven thousand men, fully eight
thousand of whom were in the attacking columns and
reserve on the left bank of the river, the flower of the
English army.

THE BATTLE OP .SUNDAY, THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY.

It was not yet daybreak on the morning of the eighth
of January when an American outpost came hastily in,
with the intelligence that the enemy was in motion and
advancing in great force. In brief time, as the day began
to dawn, the light discovered to our men what seemed
the entire British army in moving columns, occupying
two thirds of the space from the wood to the river.
Obedient to the commands of their officers, who gallantly
led in front of their men, the massive columns of the
enemy moved up with measured and steady tread. Sud-
denly a Congreve rocket, set off at a point nearest the
wood, blazed its way across the British front in t]je
direction of the river. This was the signal for attack.
Immediately the first shot from the American line was
fired from the twelve-pounder of Battery 6. This was
answered by three cheers from the enemy, who quickly

The Battle of New Orleans 77

formed in close column of more than two hundred men
in front and many lines deep. These advanced in good
order in the direction of Batteries 7 and 8, and to the left
of these. It was now evident that the main assault would
be made upon that part of the breastwork occupied by
Carroll's Tennesseans, with the intent to break the line
here and flank Jackson's army on the right.

As soon in the morning as word came that the British
were in motion for an advance, General Adair formed
his Kentuckians in two lines in close order, and marched
them to within fifty paces of the breastwork, in the rear
of Carroll's command. The day had dawned, and the
fog slowly lifted. There was no longer doubt of the
point of main assault, as the enemy's heaviest columns
moved forward in Carroll's front. The lines of the Ken-
tucky troops were at once moved up in order of close
column to the Tennesseans, deepening the ranks to five
or six men for several hundred yards. Batteries 6, 7,
and 8 opened upon the enemy when within four or five
hundred yards, killing and wounding many, but causing
no disorder in .his ranks nor check to his advance. As
he approached in range, the terrible fire of rifles and
musketry opened upon him from the Tennessee and Ken-
tucky infantry, each line firing and falling back to reload,
giving place to the next line to advance and fire.

78 The Battle of New Orleans

The British attack was supported by a heavy artillery
fire, while a cloud of rockets continued to fall in showers
throughout the contest. The assaulting columns did
little execution with small arms, as they came up relying
more on the use of the bayonet in case of effecting a breach
in our line. Some of them carried fascines and ladders
in expectation of crossing the ditch and scaling the para-
pet. But all in vain. The musketry and rifles of the
Tennessee and Kentucky militia, joining with the fire
of the artillery, mowed down whole files of men, and so
decimated their ranks as to throw them into a panic of
disorder and force a retreat. This first disastrous repulse
was within twenty-five minutes after the opening of the
battle. Writers present who have undertaken to describe
the scene at the time say that the constant rolling fire of
cannon and musketry resembled the rattling peals of
thunder following the lightning flashes in a furious electric
storm. An English officer present mentions the phenome-
non, that though the flashes of the guns were plainly
visible in front, the firing seemed to be from the wood
and swamp a mile or two away on the left. They did not
hear the sound from the front, but only the echoes from
the direction named, as though the battle raged out there.

The defeated column, forced to fall back broken and
disordered, was finally rallied by the heroic efforts of the

The Battle of New Orleans 79

officers, reinforced with fresh troops, and led to a second
attempt at assault; but the carnage and destruction
were as great as in the first attempt, while almost no
impression was made upon the defensive line of the Ameri-
cans. The British were again compelled to retreat in
disorder, leaving great numbers of their comrades dead
or wounded on the ground, or prisoners to the Americans.
The hope of victory had now become a forlorn one to the
British. They were broken in numbers, broken in order
and discipline, and broken in prestige. Yet the brave
officers, led by their commanders-in-chief, determined
not to give up the contest without a last desperate effort.
A part of the troops had dispersed and retreated to shelter
among the bushes on their right; the rest retired to the
ditch where they were first perceived in the morning,
about five hundred yards in our front. In vain did the
officers call upon the men to rally and form again for
another advance, striking some with the flat of their
swords, and appealing to them by every incentive. They
felt that it was almost certain destruction to venture
again into the storm of fire that awaited them, and were
insensible to everything but escape from impending death.
They would not move from the ditch, and here sheltered
the rest of the day. The ground over which they had
twice advanced and twice retreated was strewn thickly

8o The Battle of New Orleans

with their dead and wounded. Such slaughter of their
own men, with no apparent loss on our side, was enough
to appal the bravest of mankind.

Nearly one hundred of the enemy reached the ditch
in front of the American breastwork, half of whom were
killed and the other half captured. A detachment of
British troops had penetrated into the wood toward our
extreme left, to divert attention by a feint attack. The
troops under General Coffee opened on these with their
rifles, and soon forced them to retire.

After the main attack on the American left and center
had begun, another column of over twenty-five hun-
dred men, under the command of General Keene,
advanced along the road near the levee, and between the
levee and the river, to attack the American line on the
extreme right. They were partly sheltered by the levee
from the fire of the artillery, except that of Battery i and
the guns across the river. Our outposts were driven in,
and the head of the column pushing forward occupied
the unfinished redoubt in front of our entrenched line
before more than two or three discharges of artillery
could be made. Overpowering the small force here,
they compelled it to fall back, after killing and wounding
a few men. Bravely led by Colonel Rence and other
officers of rank, the British gained a momentary advan-

The Battle of New Of leans 81

tage, and threatened to storm the entrenchment itself.
But Beale's Rifles from the city, defending this extreme,
poured fatal volleys upon the head of the column, while
Batteries i and 2 mowed down the ranks. The Seventh
Regiment, the only infantry besides Beale's in musket
range, did deadly execution also. By these, the farther
advance of the enemy was made impossible, while the
nearest ground they occupied was strewn with their dead
and wounded, among whom were General Keene, Colonel
Rence, and other prominent officers. Many passed the
ditch and scaled the parapet only to be shot down in the
redoubt by the unerring riflemen behind the entrenched
line. Like the main column on the left, this second col-
umn on the right, broken and shattered, was compelled
to fall back in great disorder upon the reserve, with no
effort after to renew the assault. The dead and wounded
lay thick along the road, the levee, and the river bank,
as far out as the range of our guns. A flanking fire from
the battery across the river harassed the troops in this
column both in the advance and retreat, as they passed
in plain view, from which fire they sustained severe
losses.

The battle was now ended as far as the firing of mus-
ketry and small arms was concerned. The last volleys
from these ceased one hour after the British column first

82 The Battle of New Orleans

in motion attacked our line upon the left center, at half-
past seven o'clock. In that brief time, one of the best
equipped and best disciplined armies that England ever sent
forth was defeated and shattered beyond hope by one
half its number of American soldiers, mostly militia.
For one hour after the opening attack the firing along the
American line had been incessant, and the roar of the
cannon, mingling with the rattling noise of the musketry
and rifles, reverberated over the open plains and echoed
back from the wood and swamp, until the issue of combat
sent the enemy to cover beyond range. The artillery
from our batteries, however, kept up a continuous fire
against the guns of the enemy, or against squads of their
troops who might expose themselves, until two o'clock
in the afternoon, when the lull of strife came to all.

The scene upon the field of contest was one that can
not be pictured in words to convey an adequate impres-
sion. British officers who campaigned in Europe, in the
wars of the Peninsula, testified that in all their military
experiences they had witnessed nothing to equal the
stubborn fierceness of the contending forces, and the
fearful carnage that befell the troops of the British army.
We have mentioned how thickly strewn was the ground
along the levee and the road, on the right next to the river,
with the dead and the wounded of the enemy. The fatal-

The Battle of New Orleans 83

ity among the officers here was fearful. General Keene,
in command of this second attacking column, was borne
from the field badly wounded. Colonel Rence, next in
command with Keene, was killed while leading the assault
in the redoubt. Near by fell Major King, mortally
wounded, and others of rank, leaving the command with
but few leaders to conduct the broken ranks in precipi-
tate retreat. On our left, in the front of the Tennesseans
and Kentuckians, the greatest execution had been done.
The slaughter here was appalling. Within a space three
hundred yards wide, and extending out two hundred
yards from our breastwork on the battlefield, an area of
about ten acres, the ground was literally covered with the
dead and desperately wounded. A British officer, who
became also historian, says that under the temporary
truce he rode forward to view this scene. Such a one he
never witnessed elsewhere. There lay before him in this
small compass not less than one thousand men, dead or
disabled by wounds, all in the uniform of the British
soldier; not one American among the number. The
fatality to the English officers had been even greater
on our left than on our right. Lord Pakenham, com-
mander-in-chief, after the first repulse of the main column,
with a courage as reckless as it was vain rode forward
to rally his troops and lead them to a second attack in

84 The Battle of New Orleans

person, and in the midst of a hail of missiles from cannon
and small-arms fell mortally hurt with several wounds,
and died within an hour. Major-general Gibbs, next in
command, was stricken down a few minutes after, dying
within a few hours. Others in high rank were carried
down in the holocaust of casualties, until the British
army became unnerved for the want of leadership in
the hour of disaster and peril.

Adjutant-general Robert Butler, in his official report
to General Jackson a few days after the battle of the
eighth, placed the losses of the British at seven hundred
killed, fourteen hundred wounded, and five hundred
prisoners; twenty-six hundred men, or almost one third
the entire number the enemy admitted to have taken
part in the contest of the day. The loss of the Ameri-
cans was six killed and seven wounded, thirteen in all.
Instead of comment upon this remarkable disparity of
losses, and the causes that led to such a signal victory
for the Americans and such a humiliating defeat for our
enemies, it will be more interesting to our readers to quote
from English writers who were participants in the battle,
and eye-witnesses of the scenes they describe with graphic
pen. We are ever curious to know what others see and
say of us, especially if they honestly criticize us with a
spice of prejudice.

The Battle of New Orleans 85

AN ENGLISH OFFICER'S ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE.
Gleig, in his "History of British Campaigns," says:

Dividing his troops into three columns, Sir Edward Paken-
ham directed that General Keene, at the head of the Ninety-
fifth, the light companies of the Twenty-first, Fourth, and
Forty-fourth Regiments, and the two black corps, should
make a demonstration on the right; that General Gibbs, with
the Fourth, Twenty-first, Forty-fourth, and Ninety-third,
should force the enemy's left; while General Lambert, with
the Seventh and Forty-third, remained in reserve. Our num-
bers now amounted to a little short of eight thousand, a force
which, in any other part of America, would have been irre-
sistible. The forces of the enemy were reported at twenty-
three to thirty thousand. I suppose their whole force to have
been twenty -five thousand. All things were arranged on
the night of the 7th, for the 8th was fixed upon as the day
decisive of the fate of New Orleans.

On the morning of the 8th, the entire army was in battle
array. A little after daylight, General Pakenham gave the
word to advance The troops on the right and the left, hav-
ing the Forty-fourth to follow with the fascines and ladders,
rushed on to the assault. On the left, next to the river, a
detachment of the Ninety-fifth, Twenty-first and Fourth,
stormed a three-gun battery and took it. It was in advance
of the main line of works. The enemy, in overpowering num-
bers, repulsed our attacking force and recaptured the battery
with immense slaughter. On our right again, the Twenty-
first and Fourth being almost cut to pieces, and thrown into

86 The Battle of New Orleans

some confusion by the enemy's fire, the Ninety-third pushed
up and took the lead. Hastening forward, our troops soon
reached the ditch; but to scale the parapet without ladders
was impossible. Some few indeed, by mounting upon each
others' shoulders, succeeded in entering the works; but these
were, most of them, instantly killed or captured. As many
as stood without were exposed to a sweeping fire, which cut
them down by whole companies. It was in vain that the
most obstinate courage was displayed. They fell by the hands
of men they could not see. The Americans, without lifting
their faces above the rampart, swung their fire-locks over
the wall and discharged them directly upon their heads.

Poor Pakenham saw how things were going, and did all
that a general could do to rally his broken troops. He pre-
pared to lead them on himself, when he received a slight
wound in the knee, which killed his horse. Mounting another,
he again headed the Forty-fourth, when a second ball took
effect more fatally, and he dropped lifeless in the arms of his
aid-de-camp. Bravely leading their divisions, Generals Gibbs
and Keene were both wounded, and borne helpless from
the field. All was now confusion and dismay. Without
leaders, and ignorant of what was to be next done, the troops
first halted, and then began to retire, till finally, the retreat
was changed into a flight, and they quitted the ground in
the utmost disorder. But the retreat was covered in gallant
style by the reserve. The Seventh and Forty-third, under
General Lambert, presented the appearance of a renewed
attack, and the enemy, overawed, did not pursue.

On the granting of a two-days' truce for the burial of the
dead, prompted by curiosity, I mounted my horse and rode

The Battle of New Orleans 87

to the front. Of all the sights I ever witnessed, that which
met me there was, beyond comparison, the most shocking
and the most humiliating. Within the compass of a few hun-
dred yards, were gathered together nearly a thousand bodies,
all of them arrayed in British uniforms. Not a single Ameri-
can was among them ; all were English. And they were thrown
by dozens into shallow holes, scarcely deep enough to hide
their bodies. Nor was this all. An American officer stood
by smoking a cigar, and abruptly counting the slain with a
look of savage exultation, repeating that their loss amounted
only to eight killed and fourteen wounded. I confess that,
when I beheld the scene, I hung down my head half in sor-
row, and half in anger. With my officious informant, I had
every inclination to pick a quarrel. But he was on duty,
and an armistice existed, both of which forbade. I turned
my horse's head and galloped back to the camp.

The changes of expression now visible in every counte-
nance, no language can portray. Only twenty hours ago,
and all was hope and animation; wherever you went, you
were enlivened by the sounds of merriment and raillery. The
expected attack was mentioned, not only in terms of sanguine
hope, but in perfect confidence as to the result. Now gloom
and discontent everywhere prevailed. Disappointment, grief,
indignation and rage succeeded each other in all bosoms;
nay, so were the troops overwhelmed by a sense of disgrace,
that, for awhile they retained their sorrow without hinting
at the cause. Nor was this dejection because of laurels tar-
nished, wholly. The loss of comrades was to the full, as afflict-
ing as the loss of honor; for, out of more than seven thousand
in action on this side, no fewer than two thousand had fallen.

88 The Battle of New Orleans

Among these were two generals in chief command, and many
officers of courage and ability. Hardly an individual survived
who had not to mourn the loss of some special and boon com-
panion.

BRITISH EXCUSES FOR DEFEAT.

Many causes for the failure of the campaign of invasion,
and for the disastrous issue of the battle of the eighth,
were conjectured in the English army. Almost universal
blame was attributed to Colonel Mullins, of the Forty-
fourth Regiment, which was detailed under orders to
prepare and have ready, and to carry to the front on the
morning of the eighth, fascines and ladders with which to
cross the ditch and scale the parapet, as the soldiers
fought their way to the breastwork of the Americans. It
was freely charged that the Colonel deserted his trust and
at the moment of need was half a mile to the rear. It was
then that Pakenham, learning of Mullins' conduct, placed
himself at the head of the Forty-fourth and endeavored to
lead them to the front with the implements needed to
storm the works, when he fell mortally wounded. Of this
incident another British officer, Major B. E. Hill, writes:

Before sunset of the 7th, I was directed to carry instruc-
tions to Colonel Mullins, of the 44th, respecting the redoubt
in which the fascines and scaling ladders were placed, and to
report the result of my interview to Sir Edward Pakenham.
I saw Colonel Mullins, and read to him the directions from

The Battle of New Orleans 89

headquarters, begging to know if he thoroughly understood
their purport? I was assured that nothing could be clearer.
Reporting to Sir Edward, he thanked me for so completely
satisfying him that the orders so important would be certainly
and well executed.

Colonel Mullins may have been guilty of conduct
unbecoming an officer, for which he was tried and
cashiered 'in England; he probably saved his life at the
expense of his honor, in being absent from his post on that
day. But the British officers magnified the importance
of the presence of himself and his regiment with their
fascines and ladders ready for use. Even with the help
of these devices, there were not men enough in the Eng-
lish army to have crossed the ditch, climbed the parapet,
and made a breach in the breastwork line of the Ameri-
cans. Some of them might have reached the ditch alive,
as did some of their comrades, but like those comrades
they would have died in the ditch or been made prisoners.
The Americans, too, could have used the bayonet as well
as the British, if necessary.

BATTLE OF THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY ON THE WEST BANK

OF THE RIVER.

We have mentioned that after the night battle of
the twenty-third of December General Jackson ordered
General Morgan to move his command of Louisiana troops

90 The Battle of New Orleans

from English Turn, seven miles below the British camp
at Villere's, and to take a position on the west bank of
the Mississippi, opposite to the American camp. Very
naturally, the possibility, and even the probability, of
the enemy, when his army was made formidable by all
the reinforcements coming up, throwing a heavy flank-
ing force across the river, marching it to a point opposite
New Orleans and forcing a surrender of the city, suggested
itself to the military eye of Jackson. After the latter
entrenched at Rodrique Canal, by the first of January,
there was no other strategical route by which the British
could have successfully assailed the city. The impor-
tance of this seems to have been fully comprehended
neither by the one combatant nor the other until too late
to fully remedy the omission.

Just such a flanking movement was undertaken by
the English at the latest day, which brought on a second
battle on the eighth, on the right bank of the river, result-
ing in a defeat to the American forces, and well-nigh
ending in disaster to the American cause. It is in evidence
that this strategic movement was the result of a council
of war held by the British officers, at which Admiral
Sir Alexander Cochrane was present. This idea of reach-
ing the city by a heavy detachment thrown across the
river and marching up to a point opposite, in cannon

The Battle of Neiv Orleans 91

reach, had occurred before; but the difficulty was in find-
ing a way to cross over the troops and artillery, with the
Americans in command of the means of transportation.
The suggestion came from Admiral Cochrane that the
Villere Canal from the bayou could be easily deepened
and widened to the river bank and opened into the river
for the passage of the boats and barges from the fleet, and
a sufficient force thrown across the river in that way
under cover of night. This seemed feasible, and the
strategy determined on. It is related further that Lord
Pakenham insisted that the main attack upon the city
for its capture should be made by a heavy detachment
in this direction, and at the same time only a demon-
stration in force made on the American breastworks
with the whole army, supported by the artillery. He
urged that to directly assault the fortified line in front
would be at a fearful loss of life, if successful; if it failed
it would be disastrous. The Admiral replied to this taunt-
ingly, that there was no cause for alarm over anticipated
defeat; he would undertake to force the lines of the Amer-
ican militia with two or three thousand marines. In
allusion to this, Latour says : " If the British commander-
in-chief was so unmindful of what he owed to his country,
and to the army committed to his charge, as to yield to
the ill-judged and rash advice of the Admiral, he sacri-

92 The Battle of New Orleans

ficed reason in a moment of irritation; though he atoned
with his life for having acted contrary to his own judg-
ment." Undoubtedly the English made their last and
most fatal blunder here.

As the English writers who were with the army have
so variously minimized the forces under Colonel Thorn-
ton, and so exaggerated the numbers of the Americans
in this affair on the west bank, we quote from the official
report of Major-general Lambert, who succeeded to the
immediate command of the invading army after the fall
of Generals Pakenham, Gibbs, and Keene, what appears
to be reliable:

To Lord Bathurst: JANUARY ioth, 1815.

It becomes my duty to lay before your Lordship the pro-
ceedings of the force lately employed on the right bank of the
Mississippi River. Preparations had been made on our side
to clear out and widen the canal that led from the bayou to the
river, by which our boats had been brought up to the point
of disembarkation, and to open it to the Mississippi, by which
our troops could be got over to the right bank, and the cooper-
ation of armed boats be secured. A corps consisting of the
85th light infantry, two hundred seamen, four hundred marines,
the sth West India Regiment, and four pieces of artillery, under
the command of Colonel Thornton, of the 85th, were to pass
over during the night, and move along the right bank toward
New Orleans, clearing its front, until it reached the flanking
battery of the enemy on that side, which it had orders to carry.

The Battle of New Orleans 93

Unlocked for difficulties caused delay in the entrance of the
armed boats from the canal into the river, destined to land
Colonel Thornton's corps, by which several hours' delay was
caused. The ensemble of the general movement was lost, a
point of the last importance to the main attack on the left bank,
although Colonel Thornton ably executed his instructions.

MAJ.-GEN. LAMBERT, Com'd'g.

The two regiments above, with the seamen and
marines, if all were present, would have given Colonel
Thornton a command of nearly two thousand men. But
it is said that in consequence of some difficulties in getting
the boats through the canal into the river, and delay
consequent thereon, a part of the forces were left behind.
From the best authorities, there were twelve hundred
British troops landed upon the west bank of the river
on the morning of the eighth, by daybreak — all except
the West India regiment.

DEFENSIVE WORKS AND FORCES ON THE WEST BANK, -
OPPOSITE JACKSON'S CAMP.

General Morgan, commanding the Louisiana militia,
was in position on Raquet's old canal site, next to the river.
Major Latour, chief of the engineer corps, had been
instructed by General Jackson, a week or two before the
battle, to proceed across the river and to select on that

94 The Battle of New Orleans

side a suitable line for defensive works for General Mor-
gan, in case the enemy should attempt a flanking move-
ment on the right bank. Of this mission, Major Latour
writes :

Agreeable to orders, I waited on General Morgan, and in
the presence of Commodore Patterson communicated to him
my orders, and told him I was at his disposal. The General
seemed not to come to a conclusion, but inclined to make choice
of Raquet's line. He then desired that I inspect the different
situations myself, and make my report to him. My orders
were to assist him, and my opinion was subordinate to his.

I chose for the intended line of defense an intermediate
position, nearly at equal distances from Raquet's and Jourdan's
canal, where the wood inclines to the river, leaving a space of
only about nine hundred yards between the swampy wood
and the river. Works occupying this space could not well be
turned, without a siege and assault in heavy force by the enemy.
I made a rough draft of the intended line, and immediately
the overseer set his negroes to execute the work. Returning
to the left bank, I made my report to the Commander-in-chief,
who approved the disposition made. One thousand men could
have guarded a breastwork line here, and half that number
would have been sufficient had pieces of cannon been mounted
in the intended outworks. That line, defended by the eight
hundred troops and the artillery of General Morgan's com-
mand, on the 8th, could have defied three or four times the
number of British who crossed over to the right bank that day.
But these dispositions had been changed by General Morgan,
and the negroes ordered to work on the Raquet line.

The Battle of New Orleans 95

Major Latour had selected for General Jackson his
line of defense on the left bank of the river, and had
directed the construction of the breastwork and redoubts
to the entire satisfaction of the General. He objected
to the Raquet line favored by General Morgan, as
wholly unsuited for defense. The space here from the
river to the wood swamp was two thousand yards, or
considerably over one mile, a much longer line than
Jackson's on the other side. To be effective against
an attacking force, the entrenchment and outworks must
be extended to cover the entire space. It would require
then more than double the number of troops and of
pieces of artillery for defense than the situation selected
by Latour.

In determining on this change of the line of defense,
contrary to the judgment and warning of the chief of the
engineer corps, General Morgan seems to have been
influenced by one consideration paramount to all others.
He was in daily council with Commodore Patterson, and
was assured of the powerful aid of his battery on the
right bank, which had done such execution in the ranks
of the British across the river. Should the enemy attack
General Morgan's position at Raquet 's line, the Commo-
dore could turn his twelve pieces of cannon in their
embrazures, sweep the field, and drive back any reason-

96 The Battle of New Orleans

able force in range. With this support of his artillery,
the few hundred militia of Morgan's command could
more successfully repulse an attack at Raquet's line
than at the line selected by Latour farther away. This
change in the situation and plan of defense is character-
ized by Latour and other authorities as an unmilitary
proceeding, as it abandoned the idea of a fortified line
behind which a successful defense could have been made
probable, if not certain, for an almost open field subject
to the flanking movement of veteran troops against raw
militia, with no auxiliary support except a park of artillery
with guns turned another way, and of most doubtful use
in case of need. General Morgan must not share alone
the criticism which has been so freely made of his dis-
position of forces and changes of strategic plans which
resulted in sensational disaster to his command. Com-
modore Patterson, experienced in military affairs as
well as naval, advised- with him, and must have approved.
This change of line, made some days before the eighth,
must have been known, and on the representations of
Morgan and Patterson, approved by General Jackson.
It is not conceivable that so important a change of plans
would have been made by a subordinate officer, affecting
seriously the safety of New Orleans, without the con-
sent of the commander- in-chief . The latter seemed always

The Battle of New Orleans 97

to have held in very high personal esteem these two
officers, and to have had confidence in their abilities as
commanders.

As mentioned above, the dispositions made for a line
of defense by Major Latour were changed by General
Morgan, and the negroes set to work on Raquet's line.
A breastwork fortification was thrown up by the seventh
of January, extending but two hundred yards from the
river bank out on the site of the old canal. From this
terminus across the plantation land to the wooded
swamp was an open plain, with scarce an obstruction
to the deploy of troops or the sweep of artillery. The
old canal had long been in disuse, and the ditch was
filled nearly full with the washings and deposits of years.
Behind this two hundred yards of entrenchment General
Morgan massed all the Louisiana troops of his command
and planted his artillery, three pieces in all. From the
end of the breastwork on the right, one mile or eighteen
hundred yards to the swamp, there were no defensive
works from behind which to repulse the assault of an
enemy, nor any means of resistance in sight to an attack,
other than the guns in battery of Commodore Patterson,
of more than doubtful use, and the yet very doubtful
contingent of reinforcements sufficient from General Jack-
son's limited supply of men and arms.

98 The Battle of New Orleans

On the seventh, the forces of Morgan's immediate
command were the First Louisiana Militia on the left,
next to the river; on the right of these, the Second Louis-
iana; and on the right of the latter, the drafted Louisiana
militia, in all about five hundred men, who occupied the
fortified line of two hundred yards. It was not until
late this day that General Jackson seemed to fully
awaken to the impending dangers of this formidable
flanking movement across the river. He at once gave
orders that five hundred of the unarmed Kentucky
militia in camp should be marched up the river to New
Orleans and receive certain arms in store there; then
cross the river, and march down five miles on the west
bank and reinforce General Morgan's command by, or
before, daylight next morning. It was late afternoon
when they started on this tramp of ten miles, through
mud and mire ankle deep. Arriving at New Orleans,
it was found that four hundred stand of arms which were
expected to be obtained from the city armory had been
loaned to General Adair, and sent to him at the Ken-
tucky camp for other use. From other sources some
miscellaneous old guns were obtained to equip less than
two hundred of the detailed Kentuckians, who crossed
the river, began their weary night march, and reported
to General Morgan before daylight of the eighth, ready

The Battle of New Orleans 99

for duty, though they had not slept for twenty -four hours,
nor eaten anything since noon of the previous day.
Their arms, a mongrel lot, were many of them unfit for
combat; old muskets and hunting-pieces, some without
flints, and others too small-bored for the cartridges.

THE BRITISH CROSS THE RIVER AND LAND AT DAYBREAK;
THEY BEGIN THE ATTACK — THE BATTLE
AND RETREAT.

About sunset on the evening of the seventh, General
Morgan was notified of the intention of the enemy to
cross the river by Commodore Patterson, who had closely
observed his movements in the afternoon. Before day-
dawn on the eighth, the General received information
of the enemy landing on the west bank, at Andry's plan-
tation. The rapid current of the Mississippi had carried
his little flotilla three miles below the point he had desired
to land. Having debarked his troops, he marched up the
river; his boats, manned by four pieces of artillery, keep-
ing abreast and covering his flank. A detachment of
Louisiana militia, about one hundred and fifty men,
under command of Major Arnaud, had been sent in the
night a mile or two down the river to oppose the landing
and to check the advance of the British. These raw
militia, very poorly armed, retired before the enemy.

ioo The Battle of New Orleans

The detachment of one hundred and seventy Kentuckians
just arrived, under command of Colonel Davis, was
ordered to move forward to the support of the command
of Major Arnaud. Though wearied with the toilsome
all-night march, the Kentucky troops went forward
about one mile below Morgan's line and took position
on Mayhew's Canal, their left resting on the bank of the
river. Major Arnaud halted his Louisiana militia on
the right of these in line. The enemy, over one thousand
strong, came up in force under Colonel Thornton, who
commanded the British in the night battle of the twenty-
third. A heavy fire of musketry from the front was
supported by a flanking fire of artillery and rockets from
the boats. The command of Major Arnaud gave way
and hastily retreated to the wood, appearing no more
during the day on the field of action. The Kentuckians
returned the fire of the enemy with several effective vol-
leys, when they were ordered by an aid-de-camp of Gen-
eral Morgan's, just arrived, to fall back and take a posi-
tion on his line of defense.

The falling back of the Kentuckians before the enemy
was under orders which they could not but obey. They
were holding him in check and inflicting heavier losses
than they were receiving, against four or five times their
own numbers. They fell back one mile in good order.

The Battle of New Orleans 101

By disposition of the commanding officer, they were
placed in line, with an open space of two hundred yards
between their extreme left and the extreme right of the
entrenched Lotiisianians, and stretched out to cover a
space of three hundred yards, or one man to nearly two
yards of space. The remainder of the line stretching to
the wood on the extreme right, twelve hundred yards,
was wholly without defensive works, or any defense
excepting a picket of eighteen men under Colonel Cald-
well, stationed out two hundred yards beyond the extreme
right of the Kentuckians. Less than two hundred poorly
armed militia were thus isolated and distributed in thin
ranks to defend a line one mile in length, while General
Morgan lay behind his entrenchment, defending a space
of two hundred yards with five hundred troops and three
pieces of artillery, which could have been easily held by
two hundred men.

Colonel Thornton, in command of the British troops,
in advancing to the attack, readily perceived with his
trained military eye the vulnerable situation of the Ameri-
can forces. Gleig, the English author present, gives the
disposition of the enemy's assaulting columns as fol-
lows: The Eighty-fifth, Colonel Thornton's own regiment,
about seven hundred men, stretched across the field,
covering our front, with the sailors, two hundred in

The Battle of New Orleans

number, prepared to storm the battery and works;
while the marines formed a reserve, protecting the fleet
of barges. It is not probable that the attack upon the
entrenchments next to the river was intended to be more
than a demonstration in force to hold the attention of
General Morgan and his command there, while the main
assault was being directed with the Eighty-fifth Regi-
ment against the thin and unsupported line of the Ken-
tucky militia, with a view of flanking these and getting
in the rear of General Morgan's breastworks.

We quote from Major Latour's "Historical Memoir"
a further account:

The enemy advancing rapidly by the road opposite the
left of the line, the artillery played on him with effect; and
as he came nearer, the musketry began to fire also. This hav-
ing obliged him to fall back, he next directed his attack against
the detached Kentuckians on our right, one column moving
toward the wood and the other toward the centre of the line.
Now was felt the effect of the bad position that we occupied.
One of the enemy's columns turned our troops at the extremity
of Colonel Davis' command, while the other penetrated into
the unguarded space between the Kentuckians and the breast-
work of the Louisianians. Flanked at both extremes by four
times their own number, and unsupported, the Kentucky
militia, after firing several volleys, gave way; nor was it pos-
sible again to rally them. Confidence had vanished, and with
it all spirit of resistance. If instead of extending over so much

The Battle of New Orleans 103

space, those troops had been formed in close column, the con-
fusion that took place might have been avoided, and a retreat
in good order made.

The enemy having turned our right, pushed on towards the
rear of our left, which continued firing as long as possible. At
length the cannon were spiked just as the enemy arrived on the
bank of the canal. Commodore Patterson had kept up an
artillery fire on the British over the river. As they advanced
up the road, he would now have turned his cannon in their
embrasures, and fired on those of the enemy who had turned
our line and come in range. But the Kentucky troops and
the Louisianians masked the guns, and made it impossible to
fire without killing our own men. Seeing this, he determined
to spike his guns and retreat.

The Louisiana militia under General Morgan now fell back
and took a position on the Bois Gervais line, where a number
of the fleeing troops rallied. A small detachment of the enemy
advanced as far as Cazelards, but retired before evening. In
the course of the night all the enemy's troops recrossed the
river, to join their main body. The result of this attack of the
enemy on the right bank was, the loss of one hundred and
twenty of his men, killed and wounded. The commander-
in-chief, receiving intelligence of the retreat of our troops on
the right bank, ordered General Humbert, formerly of the
French army, who had tendered his services as a volunteer,
to cross over with a reinforcement of four hundred men, assume
command, and repulse the enemy, cost what it might. The
order was verbal ; some dispute having arisen over the question
of military precedence, and the enemy withdrawing, no further
steps were taken.

104 The Battle of New Orleans

"THE KENTUCKIANS INGLORIOUSLY FLED" — A PROFOUND

SENSATION.

In this historic review, we dwell exhaustively upon
the episode of this battle on the west bank, on the 8th
of January, 1815, not because of any intrinsic impor-
tance of the subject, but rather from the sensational inci-
dents which attended the movements of the belligerents,
and which were consequent upon the issue. The galling
words of General Jackson, hastily and unguardedly uttered
in an attempt to throw the blame of defeat upon a small
detachment of Kentucky militia, "the Kentuckians
ingloriously fled," were resented as an undeserved stigma
upon the honor and good name of all the Kentuckians
in the army, and upon the State of Kentucky herself.
The epigrammatic phrase, construed to mean more than
was intended, perhaps, like Burchard's "Rum, Roman-
ism, and Rebellion," struck a chord of sympathetic emo-
tion that vibrated not only in the army and the com-
munity of Louisiana, but throughout the entire country.
These burning words are of record in the archives at
Washington, and remembered in history; but the facts
in full, which vindicate the truth and render justice to
whom it is due, are known to but few, if known to any
now living. In the words of Latour: "What took place

The Battle of New Orleans 105

on the right bank had made so much sensation in the
immediate seat of war, and had been so variously reported
abroad, to the disparagement of many brave men, that I
thought it a duty incumbent on me to inquire into par-
ticulars and trace the effect to its cause."

Rather than give our own impressions, we quote from
"Reid and Eaton's Life of Jackson" an account of this
affair, interesting because written when the subject was
yet fresh in the public mind, and from the intimacy of
the authors with the personal and public life of General
Jackson :

On the night of the yth, two hundred Louisiana militia
were sent one mile down the river, to watch the movements
of the enemy. They slept upon their arms until, just at day,
an alarm was given of the approach of the British. They at
once fell back towards General Morgan's line. The Kentucky
detachment of one hundred and seventy men, having arrived
at five in the morning, after a toilsome all-night march, were
sent forward to cooperate with the Louisiana militia, whom
Major Davis met retreating up the road. They now formed
behind a mill-race near the river. Here a stand was made,
and the British advance checked by several effective volleys.
General Morgan's aid-de-camp being present, now ordered a
retreat back to the main line of defense, which was made in
good order. In the panic and disorderly retreat afterwards
are to be found incidents of justification, which might have
occasioned similar conduct in the most disciplined troops.

io6 The Battle of New Orleans

The weakest part of the line was assailed by the greatest strength
of the enemy. This was defended by one hundred and seventy
Kentuckians, who were stretched out to an extent of three
hundred yards, unsupported by artillery. Openly exposed
to the attack of a greatly superior force, and weakened by the
extent of ground they covered, it is not deserving reproach
that they abandoned a post they had strong reasons for believ-
ing they could not maintain. General Morgan reported to
General Jackson the misfortune of defeat he had met, and
attributed it to the flight of these troops, who had drawn along
with them the rest of his forces. True, they were the first to
flee; and their example may have had some effect in alarming
others. But, in situation, the troops differed. The one were
exposed and enfeebled by the manner of their arrangement;
the other, much superior in numbers, covered a less extent
of ground, were defended by an excellent breastwork manned
by several pieces of artillery; and with this difference, — the
loss of confidence of the former was not without cause. Of
these facts, Commodore Patterson was not apprised; General
Morgan was. Both reported that the disaster was owing to
the flight of the Kentucky militia. Upon this information,
General Jackson founded his report to the Secretary of
War, by which these troops were exposed to censures they
did not merit. Had all the circumstances as they existed,
been disclosed, reproach would have been prevented. At
the mill-race no troops could have behaved better; they
bravely resisted the advance of the enemy. Until an order
to that effect was given, they entertained no thought of
retreating.

The Battle of New Orleans 107

Intelligence quickly came to General Jackson of the
defeat and rout of General Morgan's command, imperil-
ing the safety of the city of New Orleans, in the midst
of the congratulations over the great victory of the main
army on the east bank. Naturally, a state of intense
excitement followed, bordering on consternation for a few
hours. When the danger was ended by the withdrawal
of the British forces to recross the river, the report of
General Morgan, followed by that of Commodore Pat-
terson, came to headquarters, laying the blame of defeat
and disaster to the alleged cowardly retreat of the Ken-
tucky militia. With General Jackson's great personal
regard for the authors of these reports, he took for granted
the correctness of the charge of censurable conduct.
Amid the tumult of emotions that must have been felt,
rapidly succeeding the changes of scenes and incidents
and issues of strategy and battle during that eventful
twenty-four hours, the great commander yielded to the
impulse of the moment to write in his official report to
the Secretary of War, on the ninth, the day succeeding
the battles, the following words:

Simultaneously with his advance upon my lines, the enemy
had thrown over in his boats a considerable force to the other
side of the river. These having landed, were hardly enough
to advance against the works of General Morgan; and what is

io8 The Battle of New Orleans

strange and difficult to account for, at the very moment when
their discomfiture was looked for with a confidence approach-
ing to certainty, the Kentucky reinforcement, in whom so much
reliance had been placed, ingloriously fled, drawing after them
by their example the remainder of the forces, and thus
yielding to the enemy that most formidable position. The
batteries which had rendered me, for many days, the most
important service, though bravely defended, were of course
now abandoned; not, however, until the guns had been
spiked.

Commodore Patterson also sent in a report to the
Secretary of the Navy, characterizing the little detach-
ment of Kentucky militia in terms as censurable and as
unjust as were the words of General Jackson. When
these official reports became publicly known, imputing
all blame of disaster to the retreat of the Kentuckians,
an indignant protest was entered by General Adair and
by the entire Kentucky contingent of the army. In
this protest they had the sympathy and support of a
large portion of other troops of the army, and of the
community. Language at this late day of forgetfulness
and calmer reason would be too tame to really portray
the irritations, the bitter recriminations, and the angry
protests which agitated army circles, and the civil com-
munity as well, and which were echoed from many parts
of the country at large.

The Battle of New Orleans 109

A COURT OF INQUIRY APPOINTED BY THE COMMANDER-
IN-CHIEF EXONERATES THE KENTUCKIANS.

General Adair, supported by the officers of his com-
mand, insisted that the statements made in these reports
to the departments at Washington were made upon a
misapprehension of the facts, and that great injustice
had been done the Kentucky militia in General Morgan's
command by attempting to shift the responsibility of
defeat from its real sources, and placing it to their dis-
credit. A military court of inquiry was demanded, and
granted by the commander-in-chief, the members of
which were officers of rank in the army, and disinter-
ested by their relations in the findings, and General Car-
roll, of Tennessee, appointed to preside. The following
notice was served on General Morgan, and similar notices
on other officers concerned:

NEW ORLEANS, LA., February 9, 1815.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL MORGAN.

Sir: A Court of Inquiry is now in session for the purpose
of inquiring into the conduct of the officers under your command,
on the morning of the 8th of January. As you are somewhat
concerned, I have to request that you will introduce such wit-
nesses on to-morrow as you may think necessary. The con-
duct of Colonel Cavalier, and of Majors Tesla and Arnaud, is
yet to be inquired into.

Your Most Obt. Servant,

WM. CARROLL, Maj.-Gen'l,

Prest* of Court.

no The Battle of New Orleans

The following opinion was rendered:

REPORT OF THE COURT OF INQUIRY.

HEADQUARTERS ;TH MILITARY DISTRICT.

NEW ORLEANS, LA., February 19, 1815.

GENERAL ORDERS.

At a Court of Inquiry, convened at this place on the 9th
inst., of which Major-general Carroll is President, the mili-
tary conduct of Colonel Davis, of Kentucky Militia, and of
Colonels Dijon and Cavalier, of Louisiana Militia, in the engage-
ment on the 8th of January last, on the west bank of the Mis-
sissippi, were investigated; the Court, after mature delibera-
tion, is of opinion that the conduct of those gentlemen in the
action aforesaid, and retreat on the 8th of January, on the
western bank of the river, is not reprehensible. The cause of
the retreat the Court attributes to the shameful flight of the
command of Major Arnaud, sent to oppose the landing of the
enemy. The retreat of the Kentucky militia, which, con-
sidering their position, the deficiency of their arms, and other
causes, may be excusable; and the panic and confusion intro-
duced into every part of the line, thereby occasioning the
retreat and confusion of the Orleans and Louisiana militia.
While the Court found much to applaud in the zeal and gal-
lantry of the officer immediately commanding, they believe
that a further reason for the retreat may be found in the
manner in which the force was placed on the line; which they
consider exceptionable. The commands of Colonels Dijon,

The Battle of New Orleans

in

Cavalier, and Declouet, composing five hundred men, supported
by three pieces of artillery, having in front a strong breastwork,
occupying a space of only two hundred yards; whilst the Ken-
tucky militia, composing Colonel Davis* command, only one
hundred and seventy strong, occupied over three hundred
yards, covered by a small ditch only.

The Major-general approves the proceeding of the Court
of Inquiry, which is hereby dissolved.

By Command.

H. CHOTARD, Asst. Adj. Gen.

CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JACKSON AND ADAIR.

General Adair seems to have regarded the decision
of the Court of Inquiry as a modifying compromise, in
deference to the high personal character and influence
of a number of persons concerned, and not the full vindi-
cation of the Kentucky militia from the imputations of
ungallant conduct on the field reflected upon them in the
official reports. The controversy, and other causes pre-
ceding it, had rankled the bosoms of both General Jack-
son and himself, and estranged the warm friendship that
had before existed between them. Adair thought that
Jackson should withdraw, or modify, the language of
his official report. General Jackson was not a man to
readily retract ; and was certainly not in the humor with
Adair to retract anything he had said. He would do

ii2 The Battle of New Orleans

no more than approve the opinion of the Court of Inquiry.
This, perhaps, was as much as General Adair should have
asked at the time.

On the loth of February, 1816, the Legislature of
Kentucky, in a resolution of thanks to General Adair
for gallant services at New Orleans, added: "And for
his spirited vindication of a respectable portion of the
troops of Kentucky from the libelous imputation of
cowardice most unjustly thrown upon them by General
Andrew Jackson." This and other incidents intensified
the animosity of feeling.

It was some two years after the close of hostilities
that the correspondence between Jackson and Adair
was . terminated in language and spirit so intensely bitter
as to make the issue personal. Adair had reported all
proceedings and facts concerning the Kentucky troops
during the campaign to Governor Shelby, who had taken
a very active part in sending all possible aid for the defense
of New Orleans. In these reports he reflected on what
he deemed the injustice done the Kentucky troops in several
official publications; especially by General Jackson, not
only in the affair of Morgan's rout, but in his report of
other operations during the campaign. These were
causes of irritation on the part of the commander-
in-chief . The burning words in the reports of General

JOHN ADAIR,

Eighth Governor of Kentucky.

The Battle of New Orleans 113

Jackson, General Morgan, and Commodore Patterson, impu-
ting cowardice to a few of their comrades, had touched a
sensitive chord and sunk deep into the hearts of the
Kentucky troops in the army. In their resentments,
expressed in words and sometimes in actions, all danger
from the enemy being over, they were perhaps not always
so orderly as soldiers should be while in camp, or on scout
or picket service.

In the closing correspondence, the language used by
both Jackson and Adair became exceedingly bitter; that
of the former beyond all restraint toward his respondent.
The issue of this controversy, tradition says, was a chal-
lenge to meet upon the field of honor, then so called, and
to settle it at the pistol's point. The challenge was
accepted. By whom it was sent, the author has not
been able to learn. In the absence of any record, written
or in print, of this affair, he has to rely upon oral recitals
which have come down through members of the Adair
family in Kentucky, and are remembered in the main
facts to-day. The would-be combatants met by appoint-
ment at a spot selected on the border line of their respec-
tive States, accompanied each by his second, his surgeon,
and a few invited friends. The unfriendly breach between
Jackson and Adair, and its possible tragic issue, seems
to have given deep concern to some of their friends.

ii4 The Baffle of New Orleans

There was no other cause of enmity between them save
what grew out of the unfortunate occurrences at New
Orleans. They were of the same political party — Jef-
fersonian Republicans, as they were known then, in dis-
tinction from Federalists. Jackson had won renown
and prestige as no other in America, and his name had
already been mentioned in connection with the highest
office within the gift of the people. Adair was held in
high esteem by the people of Kentucky, and bright hopes
of political preferment were held out by his party friends.
Other considerations added, induced friends on either
side to urge a reconciliation, which was happily effected
on terms mutually satisfactory. The above account of
this meeting on the field of honor was related to the
author by General D. L. Adair, of Hawesville, Ken-
tucky, now long past his fourscore years. He gave the
facts to the writer, he said, as he received them from
his father, Doctor Adair, of Hardin County, Kentucky,
many years ago. Doctor Adair was a cousin of General
Adair, of Jackson's army, and was one of the intimate
friends whom the General invited to be present upon the
ground.

The correspondence of Jackson and Adair throws
light upon the subject of this controversy, and reveals
to us some of the causes of the errors and contentions of

The Battle of New Orleans 115

this affair. We have mentioned that Adair, in his eager-
ness to arm as many as possible of the Kentucky militia
and place them in line for the main battle of the eighth,
went into the city and plead with the Committee of
Safety to loan him four hundred stand of arms, held in the
city armory for the protection of New Orleans, for a few
days. This urgent request was granted, and the arms
privately moved out, hauled to the camp of the Kentuck-
ians, and delivered there about nightfall of the seventh.
Four hundred more of the Kentuckians were thus armed
and moved up to the rear of the breastwork, ready for
the battle next morning. Adair believed that he was
acting in the line of his duty, and that Jackson would
approve of his device for arming more of his idle men
in camp. Busy as he was that day in New Orleans, and
in equipping and marshaling the men of his command
for battle, he was not made aware of the urgent need of
reinforcements on the opposite bank of the river, nor
did he know of the purpose of the commander-in-chief
to arm these from the city armory. While Adair 's device
very much strengthened Jackson's line on the left bank,
it unfortunately defeated Jackson's plan of sending four
hundred more men to reinforce General Morgan on the
right bank, and may in this way have largely contributed
to the latter 's defeat.

n6 The Battle of New Orleans

When Jackson, late on the seventh, ordered a detail
of five hundred of the Kentucky militia to be marched
at once to New Orleans, there to be armed, to cross the
river and report by daylight to General Morgan, he
expected to use the arms from the city armory. There
was no other supply.

We may readily imagine the feeling of disappointed
chagrin and passion that stirred to its depths the strong
nature of Jackson, when the intelligence quickly came
to him across the river of the disaster to Morgan's com-
mand, and of its retreat toward New Orleans, followed
by the enemy. It was in this tumult of passion and
excitement that the report of Morgan, followed by that
of Patterson, was brought to him, imputing the cause
of defeat and disaster to the cowardly retreat of the Ken-
tucky detachment. Under the promptings of these
incidents of the day, Jackson's report to the Secretary
of War was made, in which the words of censure were
so unjustly employed. Jackson must have informed
Morgan on the evening of the seventh that he would
reinforce him with five hundred armed soldiers. When
Colonel Davis reported to Morgan, one hour before day-
light, the arrival of the Kentucky contingent, the latter
was expecting five hundred men to reinforce him. Had
this been done, the Kentucky troops and Major Arnaud's

The Battle of New Orleans 117

one hundred and fifty Louisianians would have made
the forces sent to the front to check the advance of the
British under Colonel Thornton over six hundred men.
Such a force, well officered, would probably have held
the enemy in check, fallen back in good order, and made
a stubborn fight on the line of battle. But there was only
one third the Kentucky force expected; and when Major
Arnaud's command retreated, there was but this con-
tingent of one hundred and seventy Kentucky militia
left to resist the advance of one thousand British veterans,
and to meet their main assault on the center and right
of the long line of battle. It made its march from New
Orleans at midnight, and was reported to General Mor-
gan before daybreak. These facts give a more intelli-
gible view of the plan of battle arranged by this officer.
It was undoubtedly marred and broken up by the unfore-
seen incidents mentioned, unfortunately for General Mor-
gan and for the American cause. Commodore Patter-
son, in his report to the Secretary of the Navy, five days
after the battle, makes the force of Kentucky militia
that gave way before the British four hundred men,
more than double the real number; thus showing the
error prevalent.

When the facts came out that General Adair had
secured the four hundred stand of city arms for his own

1 1 8 The Battle of New Orleans

immediate command with which Jackson had designed to
arm the reinforcement for General Morgan, the incident
was naturally very irritating to the Commander-in-chief.
It was imputed as a cause, in part, of the defeat and
disaster on the right bank. Jackson seems to have
complained to Adair that the latter ought to have known
of his order to call out the detachment of five hundred
Kentuckians in time, and of his intention to arm them
in the city. Adair replied that the order came to Gen-
eral Thomas, in chief command of the Kentuckians,
lying ill in camp, while he was busily engaged in New
Orleans and at the front, preparing his own command
for battle next day; that he did not know of the inten-
tion of Jackson to use the city arms until too late to
repair the mistake. It made up a chapter of accidents
and errors, happening with best intentions. As for the
little body of Kentucky militia, who were made sensa-
tionally notorious, where there was honor and fame for
no one, poorly armed and wearied with fasting and a
heavy all-night march, they did as well as troops could
do. It is doubtful if any one hundred and seventy
troops in Jackson's army would have done better. Un-
supported, and attacked and flanked by four times their
own number, no troops could have held their ground
longer.

The Battle of New Orleans 119

In the possession of Judge William H. Seymour, of
New Orleans, is an original letter of Major Latour,
addressed to General Morgan in anticipation of the pub-
lication of his " Historical Memoirs of the War of 1812-15,"
advising him that he would give an account also of the
military situation and battle on the west bank, as he
viewed them; and inviting any statement from General
Morgan in his own vindication that he might choose to
make. This letter is not printed in the history, but was
seen and copied by the author, through the courtesy of
Judge Seymour, who is a lineal descendant of a sister of
Andrew Jackson. A diligent inquiry was made by the
writer of this monograph for a copy of General Morgan's
report, and also of letters or documents from him in
vindication of his course in the affairs mentioned. If
any such are in print, or otherwise preserved, the author
did not succeed in finding them, to his regret.

NEW ORLEANS, LA., April, 1815.
To GENERAL DAVID MORGAN.

Sir: I send you herewith a copy of the publication that I
am preparing for the press, upon the last campaign, relating
to the transaction that took place on the right bank, on the
8th of January.

As I am of opinion that you are to bear the blame of our
disgrace on that part of our defense, I thought myself in duty

The Battle of New Orleans

bound, as a man of honor, to participate to you what I wrote
on the subject previous to my putting it to the press. What
I have stated is, I believe, strictly true; however, sir, you
are in a situation to furnish me with such observations as
may tend to rectify what should not be printed, in its true
light.

Be persuaded, sir, that I have no enmity against you; on
the contrary, as a private citizen, I have the regard for you
that I think you deserve. Then I hope you will not take my
conscientious caution in a bad part, and that you will direct
to me in Philadelphia, where I am departing for in a day or
two, anything you will choose to write for your vindication.
It will find room in the appendix, at all events, should it be
founded upon proper authorities.

I remain, sir, your most respectful servant,

A. LACARRIERE LATOUR.

Incidental prominence has been given to this episode of
the battle of the eighth, on the west bank of the river,
far beyond its real merits as an event of the military oper-
ations around New Orleans. Worse panic and confusion
resulted among the American militia at Bladensburg,
in front of Washington, and at other places, during the
War of 1812-15, and passed into history without unusual
criticism, as incidents common to warfare. But the
injustice done to the little band of Kentucky militia,
imputing to them cowardly conduct, on the part of some
of the highest officials of the army, aroused a spirit of

The Battle of New Orleans 121

indignant protest that echoed far and wide, and would
not down. Had it not been for the misleading report
of General Morgan, followed by that of Commodore Pat-
terson, and prompting that of General Jackson to the
Secretary of War, saying that "the Kentuckians inglo-
riously fled," and imputing blame to no other party, the
incident of the battle and defeat would have been men-
tioned and passed without comment.

THE COVERT RETREAT OF THE BRITISH.

The battles of the eighth were decisive of the cam-
paign, and of the War of 1812-15, so far as military oper-
ations were concerned. The British had been beaten in
generalship and beaten upon the field of battle, until
they were made to feel and to confess to defeat so crush-
ing as to leave no hope of retrieving disaster. Within
fifteen days after landing, they had sustained losses equal
to one third of their entire army of invasion. With
prestige gone and spirit broken, and their ranks shat-
tered, there was but one thing left to do. To cover their
retreat and get safely back to their ships before the broken
remnants of their army were made to capitulate by sur-
render became a matter of gravest concern. The situ-
ation is set forth in the following official letter to the
Secretary of War:

i22 The Battle of New Orleans

CAMP BELOW NEW ORLEANS, January 19, 1815.

Sir: Last night, at 12 o'clock, the enemy precipitately
decamped and returned to his boats, leaving behind him, under
medical attendance, eighty of his wounded, fourteen pieces
of heavy artillery, and a quantity of ammunition. Such was
the situation of the ground he abandoned, and that through
which he retired, protected by canals, redoubts, intrench-
ments, and swamps on his right and the river on his left, that
I could not, without great risk, which true policy did not seem
to require, much annoy him on his retreat.

Whether it is the purpose of the enemy to renew his efforts
at some other point, or not, I can not certainly determine. In
my own mind, however, there is little doubt that his last exer-
tions have been made in this quarter, at least for the present
season. In this belief I am strengthened by the prodigious
losses he has sustained at the position he has just quitted,
and by the failure of his fleet to pass Fort St. Philip. His loss
on this ground, since the debarkation of his troops, as stated
by the last prisoners and deserters, and as confirmed by many
additional circumstances, must have exceeded four thousand
men. We succeeded on the 8th, in getting from the enemy
about one thousand stand of arms of various kinds.

Since the action of the 8th, the enemy have been allowed
but very little respite, my artillery from both sides of the
river being constantly employed until the hour of their de-
parture, in annoying them. They were permitted to find no
rest.

I am advised by Major Overton, who commands at Fort
St. Philip, in a letter of the i8th, that the enemy having bom-
barded his fort for nine days, with thirteen-inch mortars, with-

The Battle of New Orleans 123

out effect, had on the morning of that day retired. I have
little doubt that he would have sunk their vessels had they
attempted to run by.

Do not think me too sanguine in the belief that Louisiana
is now clear of the enemy. I need not assure you, however,
that wherever I command, such a belief shall never occasion
any relaxation in the measures for resistance. I am but too
sensible that while the enemy is opposing us, is not the most
proper time to provide for them. On the i8th, our prisoners
on shore were delivered to us, an exchange having been agreed
to. I shall have on hand an excess of several hundred.
I have the honor to be, &c.,

ANDREW JACKSON,

Commander-in- Chief.

The losses to the American army, in the five battles
fought from the twenty-third of December to the eighth
of January, inclusive, are summarized in the report of
the Adjutant-general, which we give:

CAMP BELOW NEW ORLEANS, Jan'y 16, 1815.
Sir: I enclose for the information of the War Department,
a report of the killed, wounded, and missing, of the army under
Major-general Jackson, in the different actions with the enemy
since their landing. ROB'T BUTLER,

Adjutant- General.

BATTLE. KILLED. WOUNDED. MISSING.

December 23d 24 115 74

December z8th 9 8 None.

January ist n 23 None.

January 8th 13 39 19

57 185 93

124 The Battle of New Orleans

A total of three hundred and thirty-five men. This
includes the killed, wounded, and missing in the two
battles on the eighth.

Our English authorities are so marked with exagger-
ations and discrepancies as to numbers in either army,
and also as to losses and casualties, that they are unre-
liable. There is with nearly all their writers, and in the
reports of their officers, a disposition to minimize num-
bers on their own side, and to overstate those on the side
of the Americans. This was no doubt due to a sense of
mortified pride and deep chagrin over their repeated
defeats and final expulsion from the country, under
humiliations such as English armies and navies had rarely
before known in history. General Jackson was not far
wrong in estimating the entire losses of the British, dur-
ing the two weeks of invasion, at more than four thousand
men. If the large number who deserted from their ranks
after the battles of the eighth of January be included,
the excess would doubtless swell the numbers much above
four thousand. Their killed, wounded, and missing on
the eighth approximated three thousand. So decimated
and broken up were their columns that they dared not
risk another battle.

The Battle of New Orleans 125

REPULSE OF THE BRITISH FLEET BEFORE FORT ST. PHILIP.

On the first of January, Major W. H. Overton, in
command of Fort St. Philip, which guards the passage of
the Mississippi River from its mouth for the protection of
New Orleans, received information that the enemy intended
to capture or pass the fort, to cooperate with their land
forces threatening the city. On the seventh, a fleet of
two bomb-vessels, one sloop, one brig, and one schooner
appeared and anchored below the fortification and began
an attack. For nine days they continued a heavy bom-
bardment from four large sea-mortars and other ordnance,
but without the effect they desired. Making but little
impression toward destroying the fort, and fearing to risk
an attempt finally to pass our batteries, the fleet with-
drew on the morning of the eighteenth, and passed again
into the Gulf. Our loss in this affair was but two killed
and seven wounded. During the nine days of attack
the enemy threw more than one thousand bombs from
four ten- and thirteen-inch mortars, besides many shells
and round shot from howitzers and cannon.

AN ENGLISH SOLDIER'S VIEW OF DEFEAT.

A graphic pen-picture of the chaotic and wretched
condition of the English army after the crushing defeat

ia6 The Battle of New Orleans

of the eighth, and until its final return to the fleet, is
given by Gleig in his "Narrative of the Campaigns."
It will be read with all the more interest because it is
the frank admission of a brave though prejudiced officer,
giving an enemy's view of the great disaster that befell
the British arms, in which he fully shared:

General Lambert prudently determined not to risk the
safety of his army by another attempt upon works evidently
so much beyond our strength. He considered that his chances
of success were in every respect lessened by the late repulse.
An extraordinary degree of confidence was given to the enemy,
while our forces were greatly diminished in numbers. If again
defeated, nothing could save our army from destruction; it
could only now retreat in force. A retreat, therefore, was
resolved upon while the measure appeared practicable, and
toward that end all our future operations were directed.

One great obstacle existed; by what road were the troops
to travel to regain the fleet? On landing, we had taken advan-
tage of the bayou, and thus come within two miles of the cul-
tivated country, in our barges. To return by the same route
was impossible. In spite of our losses there were not enough
boats to transport above one half of the army at one time.
If we separated, the chances were that both divisions would
be destroyed; for those embarked might be intercepted, and
those left behind might be attacked by the whole American
army. To obviate the difficulty, it required that we should
build a passable road through the swamp, to Lake Borgne,
some twenty miles away. The task was burthened with

The Battle of New Orleans 127

innumerable difficulties. There was no firm foundation on
which to work, and no trees to assist in forming hurdles. All
we could do was to bind together large quantities of swamp
weeds and lay them across the quagmire. It was but the
semblance of a road, without firmness and solidity.

To complete this road, bad as it was, occupied nine days,
during which our army lay in camp, making no attempt to
molest the enemy. The Americans, however, were not so
inactive. A battery of six guns, mounted on the opposite
bank, kept up a continued fire upon our men. The same mode
of proceeding was adopted in front, and thus, night and day
we were harassed by danger, against which there was no forti-
fying ourselves. Of the extreme unpleasantness of our situ-
ation, it is hardly possible to convey an adequate conception.
We never closed our eyes in peace, for we were sure to be awaked
before the lapse of many minutes, by the splash of a round-
shot or shell in the mud beside us. Tents we had none, but
lay some in open air, and some in huts of boards, or any mate-
rial we could procure. From the moment of our landing, De-
cember 23d, not a man had undressed, except to bathe; many
had worn the same shirt for weeks. Heavy rains now set
in, with violent storms of thunder and lightning, and keen frosts
at night. Thus we were wet all day, and nearly frozen at
night. With our outposts there was constant skirmishing.
Every day they were attacked by the Americans, and com-
pelled to maintain their ground by dint of hard fighting. No
one but those who belonged to this army can form a notion
of the hardships it endured, and the fatigue it underwent.

Nor were these the only evils which tended to lessen our
numbers. To our soldiers every inducement was held out by

128 The Battle of New Orleans

the enemy to desert. Printed papers, offering lands and money
as the price of desertion, were thrown into the pickets, while
individuals would persuade our sentinels to quit their stations.
It could not be expected that bribes so tempting would always
be refused. Many desertions began daily to take place, and
ere long became so frequent, that the evil rose to be of a serious
nature. In the course of a week, many men quitted their
colors, and fled to the enemy.

Meanwhile, the wounded, except such as were too severely
hurt to be removed, were embarked in the boats and sent off
to the fleet. Next followed the baggage and stores, with the
civil officers, commissaries, and purveyors; and last of all
such of the light artillery as could be drawn without risk of
discovery. But of the heavy artillery, no account was taken.
It was determined to leave them behind, retaining their sta-
tions. By the ijth, no part of the forces was left in camp
but the infantry. On the evening of the i8th, it also began
the retreat. Trimming the fires, and arranging all in the order
as if no change were to take place, regiment after regiment
stole away, as soon as darkness concealed their motions, leav-
ing the pickets to follow as a rear guard, with injunctions not
to retire till daylight appeared. Profound silence was main-
tained; not a man opened his mouth, except to issue neces-
sary orders in a whisper. Not a cough or any other noise
was to be heard from the head to the rear of the column. Even
the steps of the soldiers were planted with care, to prevent the
slightest echo. Nor was this precaution unnecessary. In spite
of every endeavor to the contrary, a rumor of our intention
had reached the Americans; for we found them of late very
watchful and prying.

The Battle of New Orleans 129

While our route lay alongside the river, the march was
agreeable enough, but as soon as we entered the marsh, all
comfort was at an end. Our roadway, constructed of materials
so slight, and resting on a foundation so infirm, was trodden
to pieces by the first corps. Those who followed were compelled
to flounder on the best way they could. By the time the rear
of the column gained the morass, all trace of a way had dis-
appeared. Not only were the reeds torn asunder and sunk
by the pressure of those in front, but the bog itself was trodden
into the consistency of mud. Every step sunk us to the knees,
and sometimes higher. Near the ditches, we had the utmost
difficulty in crossing at all. There being no light, except what
the stars supplied, it was difficult to select our steps, or follow
those who called to us that they were safe on the other side.
At one of those ditches, I myself beheld an unfortunate wretch
gradually sink until he totally disappeared. I saw him
flounder, heard his cry for help, and ran forward with the inten-
tion of saving him; but before I had taken a second step, I
myself sunk to my breast in the mire. How I kept from
smothering is more than I can tell, for I felt no solid bottom
under me, and sank slowly deeper and deeper, till the mud
reached my arms. Instead of rescuing the poor soldier, I was
forced to beg assistance for myself. A leathern canteen strap
being thrown to me, I laid hold of it, and was dragged out,
just as my fellow-sufferer was buried alive, and seen no more.

All night we continued our journey, toiling and struggling
through this terrible quagmire; and in the morning reached
the Fishermen's Huts, mentioned before as standing on the
brink of Bayou Bienvenue, near Lake Borgne. The site is
as complete a desert as the eye of man was ever pained by

130 The Battle of New Orleans

beholding. Not a tree or a bush grew near. As far as the
eye could reach, an ocean of weeds covering and partially hid-
ing the swamp presented itself, except on the side where a view
of the Lake changed, without fertilizing, the prospect. Here
we were ordered to halt; and perhaps I never rejoiced more
sincerely at any order than at this. Wearied with my exer-
tions, and oppressed with want of sleep, I threw myself on the
chilly ground, without so much as pulling off my muddy gar-
ments; in an instant all my cares and troubles were forgotten.
After many hours, I awoke from that sleep, cold and stiff,
and creeping beside a miserable fire of weeds, devoured the
last morsal of salt pork my wallet contained.

The whole army having come up, formed along the brink
of the Lake; a line of outposts was planted, and the soldiers
commanded to make themselves as comfortable as possible.
But there was little comfort. Without tents or shelter of any
kind, our bed was the morass, and our sole covering the clothes
which had not quitted our backs for a month. Our fires, so
necessary to a soldier's happiness, were composed solely of
weeds, which blazed up and burned out like straw, imparting
but little warmth. Above all, our provisions were expended,
with no way to replenish in reach. Our sole dependence was
the fleet, nearly one hundred miles away, at anchor. It was
necessary to wait until our barges could make the trip there,
and return. For two entire days, the only provisions issued
to the troops were some crumbs of biscuit and a small allow-
ance of rum. As for myself, being fond of hunting, I deter-
mined to fare better. I took a fire-lock and went in pursuit
of wild ducks, of which there seemed plenty in the bog. I was
fortunate enough to kill several, but they fell in the water,

The Battle of New Orleans 131

about twenty yards out. There was no other alternative.
Pulling off my clothes, and breaking the thin ice, I waded
out and got my game, and returned to shore, shivering like an
aspen. As I neared the shore, my leg stuck fast in the mire,
and in pulling it out my stocking came off, a loss that gave me
great discomfort, until we went aboard the fleet. I request that
I may not be sneered at when I record this loss of my stocking
as one of the disastrous consequences of this ill-fated expedition.
As the boats returned, regiment after regiment set sail
for the fleet. But, the wind being foul, many days elapsed
before all could be got off. By the end of January, we were
all once more on board our former ships. But our return was
far from triumphant. We, who only seven weeks ago had set
out in the surest confidence of glory, and I may add, of emolu-
ment, were brought back dispirited and dejected. Our ranks
were woefully thinned, our chiefs slain, our clothing tattered
and filthy, and our discipline in some degree injured. A
gloomy silence reigned throughout the armament, except
when it was broken by the voice of lamentation over fallen
friends. The interior of each ship presented a scene well cal-
culated to prove the misadventures of human hope and human
prudence. On reaching the fleet, we found that a splendid
regiment, the 4oth Foot, of one thousand men, had just arrived
to reinforce us, ignorant of the fatal issue of our attack. But
the coming of thrice their number could not recover what was
lost, or recall the fateful past. There was no welcome, nor
rejoicing; so great was the despondency that no attention
was given to the event. A sullen indifference as to what might
happen next seemed to have succeeded all our wonted curi-
osity, and confidence of success in every undertaking.

132 The Battle of New Orleans

On the 4th of February, the fleet weighed anchor and set
sail, though detained by adverse winds near the shore of Cat
Island until the 7th, when it put to sea. Our course, towards
the east, led to the conjecture that we were steering towards
Mobile. Nor was it long before we came in sight of the bay
which bears that name.

SECOND ATTACK ON FORT BOWYER, MOBILE BAY.

So great and so repeated had been the reverses of the
British arms, that an opportunity to retrieve lost prestige,
even in a small degree, could not well be permitted to pass
unimproved. The great flotilla of sixty vessels, with the
fragments of the shattered army, which set sail with
flags and pennants gayly flying in the breeze from Negril
Bay, Jamaica, but a little over two months ago, was still
a power upon the sea, at a safe distance from Jackson's
triumphant army. The little outpost of a fort that
guarded Mobile Bay, which had inflicted a heavy loss
on, and beaten off, a squadron of the enemy's ships a
few months before, lay in their path homeward, and it
was determined to invest it, and to overwhelm it with
numbers. On the sixth of February, the great arma-
ment appeared in sight of Dauphin Island. On the
seventh, twenty-five ships anchored in a crescent position
extending from the island toward Mobile Point, where
stood the fort. On the morning of the eighth, the enemy

The Battle of New Orleans 133

landed five thousand troops opposite the line of ships at
anchor, investing the fort by sea and land. The fortifi-
cation was erected for defense mainly on the sea side,
to render it formidable to ships attempting to enter the
pass into Mobile Bay. On the land side was a sandy
plain, rendering it incapable of defense against a superior
force protected by extensive siege works. The enemy
mounted a number of batteries behind parapets and
epaulements, which directed their fire upon the weakest
parts of the defense. The fort was gallantly defended
by a garrison of three hundred and fifty men, under com-
mand of Colonel William Lawrence. Some losses were
inflicted on the besiegers as they continued to push their
works to within short musket-range of the fort. But
the heavy cannonading and fire from small - arms
encircled the besieged from every direction, and further
defense became hopeless. Terms of surrender were agreed
to on the eleventh, and on the twelfth the garrison
marched out with the honors of war, yielding possession
to the enemy.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE CONCLUDED ON THE 24™
OF DECEMBER, 1814.

The small victory at Mobile Bay was barren of any
gain to the British cause; for, on the fourteenth, two

134 The Battle of New Orleans

days after the surrender, intelligence came from Eng-
land to General Lambert that articles of peace had been
signed by the plenipotentiaries of the belligerent nations,
in session at Ghent. Gleig remarks, in his "Narrative":
" With the reduction of this trifling work ended all hos-
tilities in this quarter of America; for the army had
scarcely reassembled, when intelligence arrived from Eng-
land of peace. The news reached us on the fourteenth,
and I shall not deny that it was received with much satis-
faction."

On the nineteenth, General Jackson issued an address
from headquarters, from which we reproduce as follows:
"The flag- vessel, which was sent to the enemy's fleet
at Mobile, has returned, and brings with it intelligence,
extracted from a London paper, that on the twenty-
fourth of December articles of peace were signed by the
commissioners of the two nations."

Thus, on the day after the first landing of the British
army on Louisiana soil, and after the first battle was
fought at night, terms of peace were agreed on. It was
fifteen days after that auspicious event until the battles
on the eighth occurred, causing such disaster and loss of
valuable lives to the English army and nation; and fifty-
two days from the signing of articles until a message of
the good news was received by the commander-in-chief

The Battle of New Orleans 135

of the British forces. There was no alternative but to
await the slow passage of the ship across the wide Atlantic,
with sails set to breeze and calm, and sometimes tossed
and delayed by adverse storm. To-day, the news of
such an event would be flashed over the great cables
under the sea and the network of electric wires through-
out the land, in the twinkling of an eye after its occur-
rence. Such an advantage at the time would have been
worth to England the entire cost of the telegraph system
of the world.

LEGISLATURE SUPPRESSED UNDER MARTIAL LAW-
CHARGES OF TREASONABLE UTTERANCES.

On the morning of the twenty-eighth of December,
just as the British began their attack on the American
line, General Jackson issued an order forcibly forbidding
the meeting of the Legislature in session, and for taking
possession of the legislative halls. The proceeding created
great excitement in the civil and military circles of the
city, especially among the members of the body and their
immediate friends. The author is indebted to Mr.
William Beer, of the Howard Library of New Orleans,
for the loan of a copy of a rare little book entitled
" Report of the Committee of Inquiry on the Military
Measures Employed Against the Legislature of the State

136 The Battle of New Orleans

of Louisiana, the 28th of December, 1814." In the full
report of the testimony taken by the committee, we
have a history of the causes which led to this open
rupture between the commander-in-chief and the General
Assembly of Louisiana, and of its incidents and issues.

Since the landing of the British army on the twenty-
third, there were afloat in nebulous form some rumors of
disaffection toward the American military occupation
of Louisiana, among an element of the population unfriendly
to the sovereignty of the United States over the terri-
tory since its purchase from Napoleon. Up to the time
of the military occupation under Jackson, this hostile
feeling seemed to display its temper and policies mainly
in matters of civil procedtire. There was very naturally
a jealous opposition on the part of many leading citizens,
of French and Spanish descent, of whom the population
west of the Mississippi was almost entirely made up,
against the annexation of the territory east of that river
as part of Louisiana, on equal terms of citizenship and
co-sovereignty. This east territory, they felt, had been
rudely seized and possessed by the United States, against
the claim and protest of Spain. It was being settled by
American people, who in time would help to Americanize
the country, and to lessen the power and control of the
former Creole domination. The virtues of a patriotic

Battle of New Orleans 137

love of their native countries yet lingered in the bosoms
of these citizens — a patriotic love which, when finally
transferred to the new government they were under,
burned as brightly for the new sovereignty as for the old.
Captain Abner L. Duncan, aid to Jackson, testified
before the committee as follows:

On the 28th, Colonel Declouet (of General Morgan's com-
mand) coming in haste from the city, joined this respondent
and begged him to inform General Jackson that a plan was on
foot among several members of the Legislature for the sur-
render of the country to the enemy. Colonel Declouet named
in confidence to myself, to Generals Jackson and Morgan, and
to Major Robinson, several members as persons determined on
making the attempt. He added, that he heard one or more
members say, that Jackson was carrying on a Russian war
(alluding to the burning of Moscow), and that it was best to
save private property by a timely surrender; that he, Colonel
Declouet, had been invited to join in the measure. On this
respondent making the communication to General Jackson,
the order he received was: "Tell Governor Claiborne to pre-
vent this, and to blow them up if they attempt it!"

Colonel Declouet told me the plan had been first disclosed
to him by the Speaker of the House, Mr. Guichard. He said
in presence of General Jackson and Mr. Daresac, that many
other influential men were concerned in it, and that they had
held several night or secret meetings on the subject. He gave
the names of Mr. John Blanque and Mr. Marigny, and generally
all those voting with Mr. Blanque in the House. He stated

138 The Battle of New Orleans

that, as an inducement offered to unite in the plan, he was
informed by Mr. Guichard that General Jackson would burn
and destroy everything before him sooner than surrender the
country, and that the English would respect private property.
I understood also, from some members of the House, Mr. Har-
per and Mr. Fickland among them, and in the Senate from
General Morgan and Mr. Hireart, that an attempt would be
made to dismember the State. I also understood from other
members that they would consider it an act of violence; and
would resist it by violence.

Colonel Declouet was the chief informant at head-
quarters; but rumors had been rife for several days of
disloyal utterances and of mysterious proceedings, which
caused uneasiness to the civil and military authorities,
and especially to Governor Claiborne, who had made
known his apprehensions of trouble from the disaffected
element, warning General Jackson of the dangers possible
from this quarter. The Legislature was to convene on
the twenty-eighth; and it was intimated that the over-
ture for a surrender might be resolved upon that day.
Such a possible action, in the very crisis of battle, could
be but an attempt to marplot the military plans of the
commander-in-chief, and to marshal an enemy in the rear.
The information brought in so abruptly on that morning
by Colonel Declouet made a profound impression on the
mind of General Jackson. The enemy had already

The Battle of New Orleans 139

opened the battle of the twenty-eighth of December, with
the forward movement of his columns and under the
heavy fire of his batteries.

In the excitement of the moment, Jackson gave the
verbal order to his aid, Captain Duncan, to be delivered
at once to Governor Claiborne for immediate execution.
This order, as rendered by Captain Duncan, directed the
Governor to summarily close the halls of the Legislature,
and to place a guard at the doors to prevent a meeting
of the body until further orders. Duncan testified that
the General put in emphasis the words: "Tell Governor
Claiborne to prevent this, and to blow them up if they
attempt it ! "

The order was executed. The Governor commissioned
General J. B. Labitat, of the Louisiana troops, to enforce
it; he placed a guard of soldiers at the doors of the build-
ing, and forbade entrance to the members on that day.
Captain Duncan had put spurs to his horse and started
on a lope to the city with the order. On the way he met
Colonel Fortier, an aid to the Governor, who consented
to promptly deliver the order, permitting Duncan to
return. In the proceedings of the committee, Honorable
Levi Wells, member of the House of Representatives
from Rapides Parish, testified that on the twenty-eighth,
under an order of General Jackson, an armed guard was

140 The Battle of New Orleans

placed at the doors of the legislative halls in the city of
New Orleans, which was to hinder the members from
assembling; "and even to fire on them, should they dare
to persist in their design; and that the life of a repre-
sentative of the people, and a member of the Body, was
exposed to the greatest danger; that a sentinel, to hinder
him from repairing to his post, presented his bayonet
and threatened to run him through with it, unless
he retired, adding to this outrage the most insulting
tone."

Through the mediation of friendly counsel the views
of both the civil and military chiefs were modified. The
order was revoked within twenty-four hours, and the
guards withdrawn; on the twenty-ninth, the Legislature
was permitted to convene. In the conclusion, the com-
mittee exonerated Speaker Guichard and other members
of the Legislature referred to as under suspicion, and
severely censured Colonel Declouet and Captain Duncan
as the indiscreet authors of all the trouble. The measures
taken by General Jackson and Governor Claiborne were
effectual; while the report of the committee was evi-
dently drawn to modify and explain the imputed indis-
cretions of some of their fellow-members who had been
compromised. The procedure did not include all the
legislators; for some of these had volunteered their

The Battle of New Orleans 141

»

services, shouldered their muskets, and gone to the
front of battle.

A feeling of keen resentment toward General Jackson
and some officers involved in this affair was nursed long
after by these legislators. After peace was assured and
hostilities at an end, the Legislature voted a resolution
of thanks for valiant services in defense of Louisiana to
the officers and soldiers from the States of Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Mississippi, with the request to the Gov-
ernor that he should convey the sense of this resolution
in appropriate terms in a letter each to the officers in com-
mand of these troops, respectively. The resolution was
as follows:

Resolved, That the thanks of the General Assembly be pre-
sented, in the name of the State, to our brave brother soldiers
from Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Mississippi Territory,
and their gallant leaders, Generals Coffee, Carroll, Thomas,
Adair, and Colonel Hinds, for the brilliant share they have
had in the defense of this country and the happy harmony
they have maintained with the inhabitants and militia of the
State. MAGLOIRE GUICHARD,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

FULWAR SKIPWORTH,

President of Senate.

Approved, February ad, 1815.

WM. C. CLAIBORNE,

Governor of State.

142 The Battle of New Orleans

The great chieftain could well afford to pass the slight
in silence, hailed as he was by the acclamations of the
multitude — the deliverer of the country, and the hero of
the nation!

A similar resolution of thanks was voted to the officers
and troops of Louisiana, who had so patriotically sprung
to arms on the invasion of the enemy, and who had so
gallantly fought in the several battles of the campaign.
In this resolution separate mention was made of each
of the officers of the State troops and their several com-
mands, reciting the meritorious services they had ren-
dered, in terms of special praise, making exceptions of
certain officers who had incurred the displeasure of some
of the honorable legislators.

Under the first resolution, letters were addressed each
to Generals Coffee and Carroll, of Tennessee, to Major
Hinds, of Mississippi, and to Generals Thomas and Adair,
of Kentucky. As these letters are of similar tenor, we
quote only the correspondence with General Adair:

NEW ORLEANS, February 25th, 1815.

Sir: To a soldier who has done his duty in all the conflicts
in which his country has been involved, from the War of
Independence to the present moment, it must be matter of
great exultation to notice the valor and firmness of the children
of his old friends; to be convinced that they are the true

The Battle of New Orleans 143

descendants of the old stock. That the young men of your
brigade should have looked up to you in the hour of battle,
as their guide and their shield, is only a continuation of that
confidence which their fathers had in a chief whose arm had
so often, and so successfully, been raised against the foe. The
enclosed Resolution of the General Assembly of Louisiana
will show you the high sense which is entertained in this State
of your services and of those of your brothers in arms. Be
towards them the vehicle of our sentiments, and receive for
yourself the assurances of my respect and best wishes.

WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE,

Governor of Louisiana.

To General John Adair.

The response of General Adair:

Gov. WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE.

Sir: I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of Your
Excellency's note, inclosing a Resolution of the Legislature
of Louisiana, generously awarding the thanks of the State
to the militia from her sister States, who aided in the late suc-
cessful struggle to expel a powerful invading enemy from her
shores.

To a proud American, citizen or soldier, the consciousness
of having faithfully discharged his duty to his country must
ever be his highest and most lasting consolation. But when
to this is added the approbation, the gratitude of the wisest,
the most respectable part of the community, with whom and
under whose eye it has been his fortune to act, it will ever be
esteemed, not only the highest reward for his services, but
the most powerful incentive to his future good conduct.

144 The Battle of New Orleans

Accept, sir, for the Legislature, my warmest acknowledg-
ments for the honorable mention they have made of the corps
to which I belong, and for yourself the esteem and respect
so justly due from me, for your polite and highly interesting
note of communication; and my best wishes for your health
and happiness. JOHN ADAIR.

GENERAL JACKSON — CLASH WITH THE COURT.

A member of the Legislature, Mr. Loillier, severely
censured the commander-in-chief for continuing New
Orleans and vicinity under martial law after the defeat
and embarkation of the British army, and for his arbi-
trary course in sending a body of Creole troops to a
remote camp near Baton Rouge, in response to their peti-
tion for a discharge. Jackson ordered his arrest. Loillier
applied to Judge Hall, of the United States District Court,
for a writ of habeas corpus, which was promptly granted
by the court. General Jackson summarily ordered the
arrest of Judge Hall also; and that he and the assembly-
man both be deported beyond the military lines, as per-
sons liable to incite insubordination and mutiny within
the martial jurisdiction. Intelligence of the treaty of
peace at Ghent soon followed, and martial law once
again yielded to civil authority.

Judge Hall, resenting what he deemed a great indignity
upon the court, issued an order, summoning Jackson

The Battle of New Orleans 1 45

to appear before him to answer a grave charge of con-
tempt. Jackson's attorney attempted to plead in his
defense, but the judge silenced him, and set the hearing
a week after. On the thirty-first of March, Jackson
appeared in court in person, but refused to be interro-
gated. As his defense had been denied, he announced
that he was there only to receive the sentence of the
court. Judge Hall then imposed a fine of one thousand
dollars, which sum the veteran offender drew from his
pocket and handed in to the court.

These proceedings were attended with profound excite-
ment throughout the city and community. The hero
of the day had a determined following present in crowds
at and near the court-room; and among these were the
Baratarian contingent, with their leaders, and others as
desperate as these. But the great commander had set
the example of implicit obedience to the law, and no dis-
respect to the court was shown. But as the General
sought to retire from the scene, the enthusiasm of the
crowds overleaped all bounds of propriety. With shouts
and roars of applause the devoted people lifted him
in their arms and upon their shoulders, and bore him in
triumph through the streets of the city to his headquar-
ters, despite the chagrin and helpless protestations of the
victim of their admiration. Tall and gaunt, and angular

146 The Battle of New Orleans

in person, with his long, spare limbs dangling helplessly
about him, and rocked and swayed by the movement of
the masses under him, the great warrior was never in all
his life before in a position more awkward and undigni-
fied. The master of men and emergencies was unthroned
for one time in life.

The money to pay the fine was proffered over and
over again to reimburse him by ardent friends, but Jack-
son would listen to no terms of payment of the fine, except
out of his own purse. He alone had committed the
offense — if there was an offense — and he alone would
assume to pay the penalty. It was not until 1844, one year
before his death, that Congress passed an act to refund the
principal and interest, which amounted then to twenty-
seven hundred dollars. In advocacy of this bill Stephen
A. Douglas, then Senator from Illinois, made his maiden
speech upon the floor of the Senate of the United States.

ENGLAND'S PURPOSE TO CONQUER AND HOLD POSSESSION

OF THE TERRITORY CEDED BY NAPOLEON, AND

TO ESTABLISH HER DOMINION IN THE

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

There are evidences that the English Government had
revived an old dream of conquest and expansion, by
which she might once again establish dominion west of the

The Battle of New Orleans 147

Alleghany Mountains, by the capture of New Orleans,
the key to the lower Mississippi Valley. It is a well-
known fact in history that that government refused to
recognize the legitimacy of the sale and transfer of the
Territory of Louisiana by Napoleon to the United States.
She had looked upon the transaction with a covetous and
jealous eye, for she had nursed the hope some day of
adding to her own vast possessions, by conquest or pur-
chase, not only the domain of Louisiana, but that of
Florida also. Had it not been that she was engrossed
with her military and naval forces in the turbulent wars
in Europe, during the ascendant period of Napoleon, the
British Government would most probably have employed
her armies and navies mainly in the accomplishment
of these aims of territorial aggrandizement. Her invasion
of the Northwest territory from Canada, at the opening
of the War of 1812-15, which so disastrously ended with
the destruction of the British fleet by Commodore Perry
on Lake Erie, and the annihilation of the British army
by General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, was
but an entering wedge to her deep designs. After the
fall of Napoleon and the pacification of Europe relieved
her armies and navies of further service on that side of
the ocean, she, in her pride and insolence, believed that
she would be invincible in America. Her cherished dream

148 The Battle of New Orleans

might now at last be realized by the conquest and per-
manent possession of Louisiana. We have mentioned
the significant fact that overtures for peaceful negotia-
tions had been mutually arranged as early as January,
1814, and commissioners soon after appointed to meet at
Ghent. When the capitulation at Paris and the exile of
Napoleon to Elba occurred within a few brief months,
repeated excuses for the delay of negotiations by the
British envoys were made. The United States wanted
peace on equitable terms, for she had nothing to gain by
continuing the war. England dallied and delayed;
meanwhile marshaling her military and naval forces
for a final crushing blow on her American foe. When
articles of peace were signed on the twenty-fourth of
December, the British Government knew that informa-
tion of the event would not reach the belligerents in the
Gulf of Mexico until some time in February. But His
Majesty, the King of England, and his councilors, con-
fidently believed, as did the officers in command of the
English army and navy in this expedition, that the vic-
torious invaders would eat their Christmas dinner in the
subjugated city of New Orleans, and there to stay.

Gleig, an educated officer with the army of invasion,
who became the chief English historian of the campaign,
in his " Narrative," has to say:

The Battle of New Orleans 149

The primary cause of our defeat may be traced to a source
more distant than I have mentioned; I mean to the disclosure
of our designs to the enemy. How this occurred, I shall not
take upon me to declare; though several rumors bearing at
least the guise of probability have been circulated. The
attack on New Orleans was professedly a secret expedition, so
secret indeed that it was not communicated to the inferior
officers and soldiers in the armament until immediately pre-
vious to our quitting Jamaica. To the Americans, however,
it appears to have been long known before. And hence it
was that, instead of taking them unawares, we found them
fully prepared for our reception. That our failure is to be
lamented no one will deny, since the conquest of New Orleans
would have been, beyond all comparison, the most valuable acqui-
sition that could be made to the British dominion throughout the
whole Western hemisphere. In possession of that post, we should
have kept the entire Southern trade of the United States in
check, and furnished means of commerce to our own merchants,
of incalculable value.

On the sgth of August, 1814, Colonel Edward Nichols,
in command of the land forces quartered in the Spanish
capital of Pensacola, issued a proclamation, from which
we quote:

Natives of Louisiana! On you the first call is made to assist
in liberating from a faithless, imbecile government, your paternal
soil. Spaniards, Frenchmen, Italians, and British; whether
settled, or residing for a time in Louisiana, on you also, I call
to aid me in this just cause. The American usurpation in this
country must be abolished, and the lawful owners of the soil

1 50 The Battle of New Orleans

put in possession. I am at the head of a large body of Indians,
well armed, disciplined, and commanded by British officers,
a good train of artillery with every requisite, seconded by the
powerful aid of a numerous squadron of ships. Be assured,
your property, your laws, the tranquility and peace of your
country, will be guaranteed to you. Rest assured that these
brave Indians only burn with an ardent desire of satisfaction
for the wrongs they have suffered from the Americans, to join
you in liberating the southern province from their yoke, and
drive them into the limits formerly prescribed by my sovereign.
The Indians have pledged themselves not to injure the per-
sons or properties of any but enemies to their Spanish or Eng-
lish fathers. A flag, Spanish, French, or British, over any
door, will be a certain protection.

Inhabitants of Kentucky! You have too long borne with
grievous impositions. The whole brunt of the war has fallen
on your brave sons ; be imposed on no longer ; but either range
yourselves under the standard of your forefathers, or observe
a strict neutrality. If you comply, whatever provisions you
send down will be paid for in dollars, and the safety of the
persons bringing it, as well as the free navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, will be guaranteed to you.

Men of Kentucky! Let me call to your minds the con-
duct of those factions which hurried you into this civil, unjust,
and unnatural war, at a time when Great Britain was strain-
ing every nerve in defense of her own, and the liberties of the
world. Europe is now happy and free, and now hastens justly
to avenge an unprovoked insult. Accept of my offers; every-
thing I have promised, I guarantee to you, on the sacred honor
of a British officer.

The Battle of New Orleans 151

We might repeat such evidences of the purposes and
plans of the expedition to Louisiana. But we will close
the subject with the impressions of General Jackson
himself.

In a contribution to the Philadelphia Times, of the
ist of November, 1898, Colonel A. C. Buell is authority
for the following:

"It was related to me," says Colonel Buell, "by the late
Governor William Allen, of Ohio, when, as correspondent of
the Missouri Republican, I visited the venerable statesman
at his home near Chillicothe, in 1875. After an interview
on the current political situation, Governor Allen became
reminiscent. A scrap-book beats the best of memories in the
world; so I will quote from my scrap-book the exact text of
this reminiscence. The Governor said:

'"Shortly after Arkansas was admitted into the Union,
in 1836, I, being a member of Congress, then called at the White
House. General Jackson — he always preferred to be called
General, rather than Mr. President — invited me to lunch
with him. No sooner were we seated, than he said: Mr.
Allen, let us take a little drink to the new star in the flag; —
Arkansas! This ceremony being duly observed, the Gen-
eral continued: Allen, if there had been disaster, instead of
victory, at New Orleans, there would never have been a State
of Arkansas.

'"This, of course, interested me; and I asked: Why do you
say that, General?

152 The Battle of New Orleans

'"Then he answered that: If Pakenham had taken New
Orleans, the British would have claimed and held the whole
of Louisiana Purchase.

'"But, I said, you know, General Jackson, that the Treaty
of Ghent, which had been signed fifteen days before the deci-
sive battle, provided for the restoration of all territory, places
and possessions, taken by either nation from the other, dur-
ing the war, with certain unimportant exceptions.

"'Yes, of course, Jackson replied, but the minutes of the
conference at Ghent, as kept by Mr. Gallatin, represent the
British commissioners as declaring in exact words: "We do
not admit Bonaparte's construction of the law of nations; we
can not accept it in relation to any subject-matter before us."

'"At that moment, pursued General Jackson, none of our
commissioners knew what the real meaning of those words
was. When they were uttered the British commissioners
knew that Pakenham's expedition had been decided on; our
commissioners did not know it. Now, since I have been Chief
Magistrate, I have learned, from diplomatic sources of the
most unquestionable authority, that the British ministry did
not intend the Treaty of Ghent to apply to the Louisiana Pur-
chase at all. The whole corporation of them, — Pitt, the Duke
of Portland, Grenville, Perceval, Lord Liverpool, and Castle-
reagh, denied in toto the legal right of Napoleon to sell Louis-
iana to us. They held, therefore, that we had no right to that
Territory. So you see, Allen, that the words of Mr. Gould-
burn, on behalf of the British commissioners, which I have
quoted to you from Albert Gallatin's minutes of the confer-
ence, had a far deeper significance than our commissioners
could penetrate. These words were meant to lay the founda-

The Battle of New Orleans 153

tion for a claim on the Louisiana Purchase, entirely external
to the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent. And in that way, the
British government was signing a treaty with one hand in front,
whilst the other hand, behind its back, was dispatching Paken-
ham's army to seize the fairest of our possessions.

"'You can also see, my dear Allen, said the old General,
waxing warmer, you can also see what an awful mess such a
situation would have been, if the British programme had been
carried out in full. But Providence willed otherwise. All
the tangled web that the cunning of English diplomacy could
weave around our unsuspecting commissioners at Ghent was
torn to pieces, and soaked with British blood, in half an hour,
at New Orleans, by the never-missing rifles of my Tennessee
and Kentucky pioneers; and that ended it. British diplo-
macy could do wonders ; but it could not provide against such
a contingency as that. Now, Allen, you have the whole story;
and know why Arkansas was saved to the Union. ' '

JUST LIKE JACKSON.

During the war of 1812-15, the officials of the Eng-
lish Government, civil and military, distinguished them-
selves by their haughty arrogance and insulting tone of
superiority toward the American people; and were, with
revengeful malice, guilty of vandalism, spoliations, and
cruelties, which were a disgrace to civilization, not to
speak of the massacres and butcheries of thousands of
women and children by the savage Indians, whom they

154 The Battle of New Orleans

employed and paid to commit these crimes. Andrew
Jackson soon put an end to these English barbarisms
wherever he commanded the American armies. An inci-
dent, illustrative of his summary methods of dealing with
the insolence of his enemies in authority, occurred at
Pensacola. The English fleet and army had come in
and quartered there in the Spanish capital, with the
approval and aid of the Spanish governor, though Spain
was at peace with the United States. The British assured
him that the^ would soon be in possession of Louisiana
and the coast country, and would fully protect the
Spaniard as an ally and friend. When Jackson marched
his army to Pensacola, and sent in a message to the
governor to expel the British soldiers from the city
and order their fleet out of the harbor, the reply of
the Spaniard was truckling to the English in tone and
evasive and insolent toward the American officer in
command. General Jackson replied in the following lan-
guage:

Your Excellency has been candid enough to admit your
having supplied the Indians with arms. In addition to this,
I have learned that a British flag has been seen flying on one
of your forts. All this is done while you are pretending to be
neutral. You can not be surprised then; but on the contrary
will provide a fort in your town for my soldiers and Indians,
should I take it into my head to pay you a visit. In future,

The Battle of New Orleans 155

I beg you to withhold your insulting charges against my gov-
ernment, for one more inclined to listen to slander than I am;
nor consider me any more as a diplomatic character, unless
so proclaimed to you from the mouths of my cannon.

The old hero meant all he said; for he marched upon
the town, forced a surrender, sent the British flying to
their ships for safety, and compelled the fleet to put
to sea.

HUMILIATION OF ENGLAND.

No event in the modern history of her military oper-
ations brought a deeper disappointment and a keener
sense of humiliation to the English Government, and to
the nation, than did the disastrous failure of this expe-
dition, fitted out in haughty pride for the invasion and
conquest of Louisiana. The true story of the campaign
and battles was in the main suppressed by the Tory press,
in the interest of the reigning dynasty and to save the
pride and prestige of a really great and imperial people.
A coincidence occurred to aid in diverting the mind of
the public from the contemplation of the deplorable
event. On the 23d of February, 1815, news of the defeat
at New Orleans reached London. On the same day
arrived the intelligence of the escape of Napoleon from
Elba, and of his landing on the shores of France. Public

156 The Battle of New Orleans

attention was diverted by the new sensation. The gov-
ernment press fostered the illusion, and the horrors of
New Orleans were not so fully known or felt.

William Cobbett, the noted Liberal essayist and author,
of England, wrote of the event: "And this was all the
people of the duped nation ever heard of the matter.
Bonaparte had landed from Elba, and the battle of Water-
loo soon succeeded. Both the Government and the people
were glad to forget all about this unmerciful beating in
America. This battle of New Orleans broke the heart of
European despotism. The man who won it did, in that
one act, more for the good and the honor of the human
race than ever was done by any other man."

The author, discussing the incidents and issues of
this remarkable campaign, in the light of the vast
superiority in both military and naval forces of the
British over the Americans, their more thorough equip-
ment, and their veteran discipline under the best-trained
officers in the world, put the inquiry: "How can we
account for the repeated reverses, and the final over-
whelming defeat and expulsion from the country, of such
a vast and formidable armament by an inferior body of
raw recruits, suddenly improvised for defense from the
militia of the country, and but poorly armed and
equipped?" "Providence!" was the reply; nothing less

The Battle of New Orleans 157

than Providence could have baffled and beaten such a
powerful foe, bent on conquest and spoliation for a wicked
purpose, with a wicked spirit, and in a wicked cause.
England's boastful pride and intolerant and cruel inso-
lence toward her American kindred was humbled at last.
The God of battle had once again in time punished a strong
nation for its stubborn crimes, and given victory to the
oppressed. Providence was with Jackson and his militia!

DEATH OF LORD PAKENHAM.

Pakenham died the death of the brave soldier, the
heroic Briton, and the beloved commander. His wounds
were mortal, and he was at once borne back to head-
quarters unconscious and dying. No last words came
down to us through the grief-stricken aids who minis-
tered to him in his last hour. The British accounts of
his wounding and death-scenes are conflicting and unsatis-
factory. Judge Walker, in his work, "Jackson and New
Orleans," after much research, says that Pakenham was
wounded first while attempting to rally the Forty-fourth
Regiment, whose chief officer, Colonel Mullins, had failed
to lead it to a second attack, after the first repulse by
the Tennessee and Kentucky infantry. A musket-ball
broke his right arm, and another killed his horse. His aid,

158 The Battle of New Orleans

Captain McDougall, assisted him to mount his own horse,
a creole pony, and led him forward by the bridle-rein,
the General's wounded arm hanging helpless at his side.
Pakenham continued in front, and to encourage his men.
As the Ninety-third Highlanders came up, he raised his
hat in his left hand, waved it in the air with enthusiasm,
and shouted:

' ' Hurrah ! Hurrah ! brave Highlanders ! ' '

A discharge of grape-shot almost annihilated the group.
One shot passed through the General's thigh, and at the
same time through the body of the pony, and both went
down, never to rise again. As the aid raised him once
again in his arms, the chief received a third and fatal
wound in the groin. He was borne back then, near to

A

his headquarters, and placed under a large oak tree, where,
beyond the surgeon's skill, he shortly breathed his last.

BRITISH SOLDIERS WON LAURELS IN EUROPEAN WARS.

From English authorities we learn that there were
in the English army, under Pakenham, regiments that
had won laurels at Martinique, Badajoz, Salamanca,
Vittoria, the Pyrenees, and Toulouse. The English
chronicler, Cooke, says of some of these veterans, who
touched, on their way to America from the coasts of

The Battle of New Orleans 159

France, the shore of Old England for a few days, that
"scraps from our colors, or other little souvenirs, were
craved for with outstretched hands, to find a resting
place in the fair bosoms of the ladies of Devonshire."
Others again were but recently transported from the
fiery ordeals of Corunna, Busaco, and Ciudad Rodrigo,
says the same author. England never sent forth from
her borders a braver or better- disciplined body of soldiers,
as was proven in every trial of campaign and battle of
the invasion of Louisiana. No other troops in the world
could have behaved with more sturdy gallantry or fought
with superior courage. Their defeat was destiny. Provi-
dence and General Jackson did it!

160 The Battle of New Orleans

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON.

Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaw settlement
on the 1 5th of March, 1767, so near the border of North
and South Carolina as to leave it a question of contention
as to which State may claim the honor of his nativity.
His father, Andrew Jackson, came over from Carrick-
fergus, on the north coast of Ireland, in 1765. His
mother was Elizabeth Hutchinson. The father died
before the birth of Andrew. His birthplace was a rude
log cabin of the border. His education was limited to
the elementary studies of the country schools of his day.
At the age of fourteen he entered the colonial army, and,
young as he was, displayed the same spirit of patriotic
courage and indomitable will that made him famous.
Two elder brothers had entered the army before him,
and both gave their lives a sacrifice to the cause of liberty.
The mother died soon, of grief and the hardships of war.
Young Andrew was taken prisoner, and roughly treated
by his captors. He was nearly starved in prison at Cam-
den. While thus confined, an English officer insolently
ordered him one day to black his boots. Jackson indig-
nantly refused, for which offense the brutal officer beat
him over his head with his sword, inflicting injuries which

The Battle of New Orleans 161

caused suffering in after life. This incident is related
to have greatly intensified Jackson's hatred of the Eng-
lish throughout his life. An orphan, and alone in the
world, when the War of the Revolution was over he was
apprenticed to learn the saddler's trade. At eighteen
he began the study of law, in the office of McCoy, in
Salisbury.

In 1788, Jackson was appointed public prosecutor
for western North Carolina, now Tennessee. He removed
and located at Nashville, and very soon was engaged in
an active and remunerative practice. In 1796, he sat as
a delegate in the convention at Knoxville, to frame a
constitution for Tennessee, admitted into the Union as a
State in that year. He was the first representative in
Congress of the new State. But one year afterward, he
was elected a senator of the United States Congress. In
1798, he resigned his seat in the Senate to accept an
appointment as judge of the Supreme Court of his State,
which office he held for six years. He engaged repeatedly
in personal rencounters and duels, and in the latter
received wounds that caused him great physical suffering
during life.

Since 1801, he had been commander of the Tennessee
militia. On the declaration of war against England,
Jackson offered his services, with twenty-five hundred

1 62 The Battle of New Orleans

troops, to the Government for the defense of the country.
He was ordered to Natchez with two thousand men to
operate against any movement of the enemy on New
Orleans. No enemy appearing on the coast, he was
ordered by Secretary Armstrong, of the War Department,
to disband his army. This foolish order Jackson dis-
obeyed, and very properly led his men back to Tennessee
before dismissing them. His famous campaign against
the great Creek nation, in 1814, and his repeated victories
over these savage allies of England, breaking their power
and compelling peace; his Gulf Coast campaign and
battles around New Orleans, crushing the British army
and driving it from the country; his successful career as
President of the United States, are well known in the
history of our nation, and distinguish him as one of the
ablest and most forceful characters our country has ever
produced. He died at the Hermitage, full of honors and
renown, on the 8th of June, 1845, having lived a patriot
citizen, an able military chieftain, and a great leader in
the civic affairs of State and nation.

The Battle of New Orleans 163

ISAAC SHELBY, GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY.

Fortunate was it for Kentucky and for the nation
that Isaac Shelby directed the military affairs of the
Commonwealth during the period of the second war with
England. This famous pioneer of the famous pioneers
of Kentucky was born in Maryland, on the nth of Decem-
ber, 1750, near Hagerstown. Early in life he was em-
ployed as a land surveyor. On the threatened invasion
of Virginia by the federated army of the Northwest tribes
under the celebrated chief, Cornstalk, he was lieutenant
of a company in the command of his father, General
Evan Shelby, and gained distinction for gallant services
in the great victory won at Point Pleasant on the icth of
October, 1774, which forced the Indians to sue for peace.
He visited Kentucky in 1775, with the vanguard of
pioneer explorers, and marked the lands which after-
ward, in 1780, he returned and secured by entry and
upon which he settled with his family after the Revolu-
tionary War.

When he removed from Maryland, he settled near the
borderline of Virginia and North Carolina, then not
well denned. Believing his residence on Virginia soil,
he was elected to the Virginia Legislature in 1779. But

164 The Battle of New Orleans

the survey of the boundary line determined him a citizen
of North Carolina, and as such he was officially known
after until his final removal to Kentucky. In the gloom-
iest period of the War for Independence, in the southern
colonies, after the defeat at Camden and the surrender
of Charleston, Shelby became famous as a border leader
of what seemed the forlorn hope of the colonists, and for
his frequent victories over the enemy. With Colonels
Sevier and Clarke, he led his command to the attack and
capture of a strong fort in the Cherokee country, which
had, garrisoned by British, Tories, and Indians, greatly
harassed the settlers in west North Carolina. Soon after,
in August, 1780, he inflicted a loss of several hundred by
an attack on the British at Musgrove's Mill, South Caro-
lina, and escaped with little loss of his own men. But
his greatest victory, and one of the most decisive of the
war, was won at King's Mountain. Joining forces with
Colonels Sevier and Campbell, a bold attack was planned
and made on the notorious General Ferguson, encamped
on King's Mountain. Without artillery, these frontiers-
men, with their flint-lock rifles, boldly attacked Ferguson's
veterans, advancing on the enemy up the mountain side,
and keeping up the fight until Ferguson and nearly four
hundred of his men were slain, and over seven hundred
made prisoners.

ISAAC SHELBY,

First and Sixth (lovernor of Kentucky.

The Battle of New Orleans 165

After the close of the war, in the winter of 1782-3,
General Shelby removed to Kentucky and settled in Lin-
coln County, where he remained through life at his ele-
gant home and upon his ample estate, the model citizen
and patriot. His civic and military fame preceded him,
for many of his soldiers of the Revolution, were his emi-
grant neighbors. When Kentucky took the initial steps
toward Statehood in the Union, Shelby was a member
of the convention of 1787-8, and also of the convention
to frame the first constitution, of 1792. By unamimous
consent, he became the first Governor of the Common-
wealth, in 1792, and was inaugurated as Governor at
Lexington on the first of June. On the sixth of June,
in courtly style, the Governor appeared in person in
presence of the legislators, in joint assembly, and read
to the august body his first message, formally deliver-
ing to the Speakers of each House a copy in manuscript,
and then retired in dignified state, when the Speakers
each adjourned the members to their respective halls.
This was in imitation of the custom of the British mon-
archs, followed by the colonial governors in America, and
by Washington himself in his first inaugural ceremonies.

So much had Governor Shelby established himself in
the esteem and confidence of the people, that with unani-
mity he was elected a second time to serve as Governor

1 66 The Battle of New Orleans

in the critical period of 1812, when a second war with
England became a certainty. His indomitable and
patriotic zeal counted no costs and reckoned at no sacri-
fice to punish the invaders and drive them from our soil
during the three years of hostilities. In this time, under
his several calls, over twenty thousand volunteers were
sent to the Army of the Northwest under Harrison, from
Kentucky. By these mainly, the shameful surrender
of Hull, at Detroit, was retrieved, the victory of the
Thames won, and the British and their Indian allies
driven from the borders, from Detroit to Buffalo, for the
remainder of the war. At the battle of the Thames,
won by Kentuckians, Governor Shelby led the three
thousand volunteers whom he had called out for this
campaign, in person, though in his sixty-fourth year of
age. On his return to the capital of his State, when a
last requisition was made by the Secretary of War, in
1814, thousands of volunteers answered his call for troops
to reinforce the army of General Jackson in the South-
west, of whom three regiments, of twenty-two hundred
men, were accepted and sent to New Orleans. Governor
Shelby notified the Government at Washington that, if
ten thousand soldiers were needed to repel the enemy
and drive him from our soil in the Southwest, Kentucky
was ready to supply them on brief notice.

The Battle of New Orleans 167

Peace once again reigned when his second term as
Governor ended. He retired to his country home, where
he spent the evening of his life, honored and esteemed
by a grateful and devoted constituency of citizenship
as few men were. He died at his home on the 2 6th of
July, 1826, in the ripeness of years and of honors.

1 68 The Battle of New Orleans

GENERAL JOHN ADAIR.

John Adair was born in Chester County, S. C., in 1759,
and was the son of Baron William Adair, of Scotland,
whose wife was a Moore. After remaining some years
in South Carolina, Baron Adair returned to Scotland.
The son became a soldier in the Revolutionary War when
quite a youth, and served with gallantry in the colonial
army. He was made prisoner, and was treated with
repeated cruelties by the enemy. He was a member of
the convention] which ratified the Constitution of the
United States. He removed to Kentucky in 1787, and
settled in Mercer County. He took an active and promi-
nent part in the Indian border wars, having been
appointed major by General Wilkinson. He was in many
frays with the savages, in one of which, after several
repulses of a body of Indians largely outnumbering his
own forces, he was defeated by Chief Little Turtle, though
he brought off his men after inflicting more serious losses
on the enemy than his own. This was near Fort St. Clair,
in Ohio. In 1793, General Scott appointed him a lieu-
tenant-colonel. He represented Mercer County in the
Legislature several times, and was once Speaker of the
House.

The Battle of New Orleans 169

Adair's name became involved with Aaron Burr's in
the military movements in Kentucky and the South-
west which have become known in history as "Burr's
Conspiracy," as did the names of Andrew Jackson and
other prominent men of this country, of unquestioned
loyalty to our nation. Burr's designs, with all the lights
thrown upon the question, have remained a mystery to
this day. If he contemplated ultimate treason, he did
not fully disclose it to many who were disposed to
sympathize with and to lend aid to what they were
persuaded was a legitimate expedition to wrest from
Spanish rule territory in dispute, or which "manifest
destiny" determined should come under the rule of the
United States as against the aggressions of Spain or
England. Burr undoubtedly misled many good and
patriotic men, who abandoned his fortunes when the
intimations of treasonable designs were charged against
him, which brought him to trial.

In 1805, when John Breckinridge resigned his seat
in the United States Senate to become attorney-general
under Jefferson, Adair was elected to fill the unexpired
term. He entered the military service again, and at the
battle of Thames River acted as volunteer aid to Gov-
ernor Shelby. For gallant conduct on this occasion he
was made a brigadier-general in 1814. He took a lead-
ing part in recruiting the volunteer troops for the rein-

1 70 The Battle of New Orleans

forcement of Jackson's army at New Orleans, and in their
transportation down the river. General Thomas, in chief
command of these, being prostrated with illness, the
command fell upon General Adair. He displayed cour-
age and military skill in the disposition of his troops,
and especially in the final contest on the eighth of Janu-
ary, under difficulties that were seriously embarrassing.
In 1820, he was elected governor of Kentucky, and
held this office when the great questions of relief, and
Old Court and New Court, began to disturb the peace
and tranquility of the Commonwealth. In 1831, he was
elected a member of Congress, and in the national house
served on the Committee on Military Affairs. He died
on the i pth of May, 1840, and was buried in the State
cemetery at Frankfort, where a monument, erected at
the cost of the State, with proper inscription, stands over
his grave. A fine oil portrait of him hangs on the wall
of the^capitol, at Frankfort.

The Battle of New Orleans 171

COLONEL GABRIEL SLAUGHTER

Who commanded a regiment of Kentucky troops in
the battle of New Orleans, was a native of Virginia, but
imigrated to Kentucky in pioneer days and settled in
Mercer County, about four miles east of Harrodsburg, on
the turnpike road leading to Lexington. Though a man
of ability, and much esteemed, he seems to have lived
in the retirement of private life until the maturity of
middle age. He early became a member of the Baptist
church, in which he led a consistent and zealous life,
taking a prominent part as a layman in the promotion of
the interests of religion and of the denomination with
whom he fraternized. His character and worth made
him prominent among the brotherhood. He often repre-
sented his church as its messenger, and was usually called
to preside as moderator over the associations within the
jurisdictions of which he lived. His hospitality was of
that warm and generous kind which was characteristic
of pioneer days. His ample and comfortable country
mansion, situated upon a much-frequented highway, came
to be known far and wide as the "Wayfarer's Rest."

Under the call of Governor Shelby, in 1814, he enlisted
a regiment of volunteers for the army of the Southwest

172 The Battle of New Orleans

from Mercer County and the counties adjacent, which
was one of three regiments accepted for this service.
The gallant and distinguished part taken at New Orleans,
in the great battle of the eighth of January, by Colonel
Slaughter and his regiment, has been set forth in the
pages of this book. No troops engaged on the American
side on that day did more fatal execution upon the enemy's
rank and file than did these. Every man of the regiment
was in rifle-range, and all did deadly work.

Though courteous and gentle in manner, Colonel
Slaughter was possessed of invincible firmness and inde-
pendence when occasion required or a sense of duty urged.
An incident illustrates. General Jackson, who held him
in high esteem, appointed him to preside over a court-
martial. The decision did not meet with the favor of the
chief, and he ordered a reconsideration and reversal of
proceedings. Colonel Slaughter declined to comply, saying:
"I know my duty, and have performed it." Jackson's
esteem was not lessened by the manliness of the answer.

His gallantry at New Orleans brought the name of
Colonel Slaughter prominently to political notice, and
the next year, 1816, he was nominated and elected
lieutenant-governor, on the ticket with George Madison
for governor. Madison was not destined to wear the
civic honors which an ardent constituency had woven

GABRIEL SLAUGHTER,

Eleventh Governor of Kentucky.

The Battle of New Orleans 173

to crown him. He died in October, a few months after
the election. Slaughter succeeded him, and was duly
installed as governor. An active opposition party made
an open issue of the question as to whether the lieutenant-
governor was eligible to become governor by succession,
under the Constitution, or that a successor should be
chosen at an election to be called by act of the Legisla-
ture. There had been no precedent to this date. The
question was fiercely agitated, in and out of the legislative
halls, during two years of the executive term, before
a subsidence of partisan feeling ended the contest.
Governor Slaughter held firmly to his convictions of
constitutional right, came safely through the angry waves
of opposition, and served out his term of four years with
credit to himself and the Commonwealth. The question
was settled by this precedent, no more to be raised,
that, under the constitutional provisions then in force,
the lieutenant-governor should succeed to the office of
governor upon the "death, resignation, or refusal to
qualify" of the governor-elect.

On the expiration of his term Governor Slaughter
retired to his country home, and resumed his occupation
as a farmer, leading a quiet and useful citizen life until
the end. He died at his home in 1830, aged sixty-three
years.

174 The Battle of New Orleans

KENTUCKY'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR OF 1812-15.

It is worthy of mention to the credit of Kentucky
that, with a population of four hundred thousand, she
furnished for the nation's defense, during the three years
of war with England and the savages who allied with her,
forty regiments of volunteer militia, besides a number of
battalions and companies, over twenty-four thousand
men in all, from 1812 to 1815. Excepting a small force
of volunteers from the then Territory of Ohio, and a few
regulars, her troops made up the entire body of the army
of General Harrison in the Northwest campaign, ending
with the decisive and crushing victory at the battle of
Thames River, over the combined army of British under
General Proctor, and Indians under Tecumseh. That
battle was fought and won by the impetuous charges of
the Kentuckians, under Colonel Richard M. Johnson,
against the Indians, and his brother, Colonel James John-
son, against the British, before the forces in the rear,
mainly Kentuckians also, could be brought into action.
Before Commodore Perry met the English fleet on Lake
Erie, he called for one hundred riflemen from Harrison's
army to perch upon the masts and rigging of his ships,
as sharpshooters, to pick off the seamen and gunners
from the enemy's decks. One hundred Kentuckians

The Battle of New Orleans 175

volunteered in this perilous service, and others vied with
them the honors of the place, though all were landsmen
and strangers to the sea. The British commodore made
a similar call on Proctor's men and Tecumseh's Indians,
but none cared to confront the dangers of such a service.
The fleets coming to close quarters, the deadly fire of the
riflemen in the rigging helped to strew the decks of the
enemy's ships with dead and wounded, and to silence
the guns by shooting down the gunners.

APPENDIX

LIST OF KENTUCKIANS IN THE BATTLE OF
NEW ORLEANS

I

ROLL OF FIELD AND STAFF, MITCHUSSON'S REGIMENT OF KEN-
TUCKY DETACHED MILITIA, WAR OF 1812, COMMANDED BY
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM MITCHUSSON

WILLIAM MITCHUSSON, Lieut. -colonel.
SAMUEL PARKER, Lieutenant-colonel.
REUBEN HARRISON, Major.
THOMPSON CRENSHAW, Major.
JOSIAH RAMSEY, Adjutant.

WILLIAM PRINCE, Paymaster.
JOHN C. PENTECOST, Surgeon.
STEPHEN C. DORRIS, Surgeon's Mate.
ISAAC CALDWELL, Sergeant-major.
MOSES THOMPSON, Quartermaster-sergt.

CHRISTOPHER G. HONTS, Quartermaster. JOHNSON LOUGHLIN, Fife Major.

CAPTAIN THOMAS GRIFFIN'S COMPANY

THOMAS GRIFFIN, Captain.
BOSWELL PULLIAM, Lieutenant.
ALLEN HAYS, Ensign.
DAVENPORT VENABLE, Sergeant.
TERENCE KIRBY, Sergeant.
SIMEON ACTON, Sergeant.
SAMUEL SPILMAN, Sergeant.

WILLIAM BAIRD, Corporal.
JOHN O'NEAL, Corporal.
JONATHAN EWBANK, Corporal.
ALEXANDER CHAMBERS, Corporal.
JAMES C. PULLIAM, Drummer.
JOSEPH RIGHT, Fifer.

Brown, James,
Baird, David,
Bigsby, John,
Biggs, David,
Berry, John,
Button, John,
Button, Zacheus,
Bardwell, James,
Bass, Isaac,
Creek, David,
Chayson, David,
Cowin, James,
Cowen, John,

PRIVATES

Dobson, Thomas,
Dry, John,
Deal, Henry,
Doke, William,
Dowell, David,
Emberton, John,
Fraley, Nicholas,
Garrett, Joseph,
Grisane, Samuel,
Gibson, John,
Gressom, Thomas,
Hobach, Mark,
Highsmith, William,

Horton, Daniel,
Hamilton, Robert,
Hoofman, Elam,
Huckaboy, Joseph,
Huckaboy, Nathan,
James, Jacob,
Jackson, Elijah,
Johnson, Luther,
Johnson, Robert,
Kirby, John,
Kirby, Leonard,
Kirby, Isaiah,
Lee, Mathias,

i8o

Appendix

Miller, Samuel,
Morris, Miles,
Meadows, Jesse,
Noles, Robert,
Nelson, William,
Oliver, Dury,
Pruett, Moses,
Pinkerton, James,
Rigsby, John,

Ragland, Benjamin,
Sayres, John,
Stovall, Dury,
Seagrave, John,
Springer, John,
Slaton, Ezekiel,
Stamp, Charles,
Thompson, John,

Wetherspoon, James,
Williams, Milam,
Weatherspoon, Wiley,
Welch, Thomas,
Weatherspoon, Major,
Wooten, Daniel,
Wiley, John,
Wildman, Burnell.

CAPTAIN ROBERT SMITH'S COMPANY

ROBERT SMITH, Captain.
MORTON A. RUCKER, Lieutenant.
ASA TURNER, Ensign.
THOMAS KILGORE, Sergeant.
PETER CASH, Sergeant.
DANIEL POWELL, Sergeant.
JOHN PETERS, Sergeant.

WILLIAM SANDEFEW, Sergeant.
CHRISTOPHER HARDESTY, Corporal.
CHARLES W. BROWN, Corporal.
JAMES MILLER, Corporal.
JAMES BRUNTS, Corporal.
SAMUEL SKINNER, Drummer.

PRIVATES

Arnet, William,
Butler, Samuel,
Barnes, John,
Bramley, Daniel,
Capps, Joshua,
Crabtree, John F.,
Clements, John,
Crabtree, James,
Calender, Isaac,
Cross, Joseph,
Ducate, James,
Dixon, Payne,
Ezell, Harrison,
Fickas, John,
Fugudy, Benjamin,

Gillum, William H.,
Gibson, John,
Hawthorn, Robert,
Holifield, William,
Hardin, Ennis,
Hardesty, demons,
Hendrix, Thomas,
Keatch, Ovid,
Lambert, Joel,
Lambert, William,
Mayo, John,
Martin, Daniel,
Miller, William,
McNamer, Philip,
McGraw, John,

McCoy, James,
Pullom, John,
Parrick, Thomas,
Rolls, Abijah,
Read, James R.,
Stephens, George,
Smith, Matthew,
Skillett, Thomas,
Sutherland, Ransom,
Scott, James W.,
Stephens, Jesse,
Tarpin, William,
Weathers, John,
Wiggins, Joshua.

CAPTAIN THOMAS STERRETT'S COMPANY

THOMAS STERRETT, Captain.
JOHN AUSTIN, Lieutenant.
HENRY HINES, Ensign.
JOHN BREWER, Sergeant.
NATHAN YOUNG, Sergeant.
JAMES B. REVILL, Sergeant.
NICHOLAS KING, Sergeant.

DAVID C. FEELDING, Sergeant.
THOMAS BRIDGES, Corporal.
NATHAN JOHNSON, Corporal.
STEPHEN WADE, Corporal.
JOHN COSTILOW, Drummer.
BENJAMIN TEMPLER, Fifer.

Appendix

181

Bratton, George,
Brown, Henry,
Condra, William,
Carter, William,
Coal, Joseph,
Calvert, John,
Cunningham, Brackett C.,
Dawson, James,
Dawson, Jonas,
Dawson, John,
Dawson, Johnson,
Davis, Thomas,
Evans, Richard,
Ethell, James,
Forkner, Martin,
Fegert, Alexander,
Franklin, Stephen,
Galloway, William,
Hay, James S.,
Heavener, John,
Hammond, Thomas,

Harris, Elijah,
Hendrick, James,
Holloway, Thomas,
Harlan, George,
Jenkins, Samuel,
Johnson, Richard,
Kown, William,
Kown, Nathan,
Kimble, William S.,
Kidwell, James,
Kelsey, David,
Lawrence, James H.,
Long, Abner,
Marshall, James,
Mannon, Thomas,
Moge, Jacob,
McClammon, James W.
McClammon, John S.,
Miller, Philip,
Mannon, William,
McMurry, William,

Newman, Jacob,
Newman, William,
Owensby, Nicholas,
Pollard, Elijah,
Paulk, Moses,
Pitman, William,
Roundtree, Turner,
Roundtree, Kelly B.
Srader, John,
Stroude, Doran,
Stagner, Jeremiah,
Summons, George,
Stone, John,
Stroud, John,
Templer, Jesse,
Thompson, Edward,
Wilkinson, James,
Wood, Mark D.,
Wood, William,
Wiley, Elijah,
Whitlow, Henry.

CAPTAIN SAMUEL F. MALONE'S COMPANY

SAMUEL F. MALONE, Captain.
ELIAS BUTTON, Lieutenant.
DENNIS COCHRAN, Ensign.
MATTHEW SIMON, Sergeant.
CORNELIUS MANLEY, Sergeant.
JAMES McAusTER, Sergeant.
ROBERT T. ANDERSON, Sergeant.

ABNER WELLS, Corporal.
HEZEKIAH LARD, Corporal.
JAMES GASH, Corporal.
JAMES BLACK, Corporal.
JESSE PULLIAM, Drummer.
JAMES ROBERTSON, Fifer.

Alexander, Thomas,
Brown, William,
Berry, Moses,
Blair, Andrew,
Bagman, James,
Bloyd, John,
Clark, Roderick,
Clark, Joseph,
Chapman, Job,
Dishmore, James,

PRIVATES

Dishmore, William,
Duff, Fielding,
Denison, Zade,
Dewesse, Elisha,
Dunagan, Thomas,
Emerson, William,
Edgar, Josiah,
Edgar, Johnson,
Ellis, Hercules,
Farley, Clay,

Greathouse, Hiram,
Garrison, David,
Harris, John L.,
Huffman, Cornelius,
Howell, Hudson,
Handy, Jesse,
Hardin, Thomas,
Hoge, Edmund,
Johnson, John,
Jenkins, William,

i8a

Appendix

Lewis, Charles,
Lyon, William,
Logsdon, John,
Merritt, John,
McKinney, Charles W.,
Mitchell, James,
Newell, John,
Nunegard, William,
Nation, Laban,

O'Neal, Bennett,
Owens, William,
Pickett, John,
Pulliam, John,
Penick, James,
Roundtree, Henry,
Reed, William,
Scott, Robert,
Sutterfield, Eli,

Scott, Joseph,
Tribble, Harris,
Thacker, Allen,
Taylor, James,
Taylor, Isaac,
Williams, William,
Wheeler, Bond,
Young, Asa.

CAPTAIN JOHN C. DODD'S COMPANY

JOHN C. DODD, Captain.
WILLIAM HARRALL, Lieutenant.
BERT MOORE, Ensign.
ROGER FILLEY, Sergeant.
JORDAN McVAY, Sergeant.
HIRAM PRUNELL, Sergeant.
WILLIAM PERKINS, Sergeant.

WILLIAM STORY, Sergeant.
BENJAMIN D. CERBY, Corporal.
MAHALA INGRAM, Corporal.
JOHN SULLIVAN, Corporal.
ROBERT RICKEY, Corporal.
FLEMING CASTLEBERG, Drummer.
WILLIAM LAUGHLIN, Fifer.

PRIVATES

Anderson, Evan,
Baker, Seth,
Barnett, Samuel,
Bridges, Thomas,
Bridges, William,
Barton, William,
Bird, Jacob,
Cammack, William,
Carlew, Henry,
Campbell, Lindsey,
Carter, James,
Carlew, John,
Cannon, Israel,
Carlew, Robert,
Davidson, Alexander B.,
Dison, Bennett,
Drennan, Samuel,
Dunn, Alexander,
Duff, James,
Entricon, John,
French, Joseph,
Green, Levi,
Gaskins, Thadeus,
Green, James,

Gilkey, John,
George, Pallam,
Hancock, John,
Hughes, James,
Heath, Riland,
Hobart, Joseph,
Jenkins, Arthur B.,
Jenkins, Whitenell W.,
Kenady, William,
Long, William,
Leech, Abner,
Lamb, William,
Leech, Zadock,
Law, Samuel,
Love, William,
McNabb, John W.,
Miller, John,
Moore, Edmund,
Mercer, Drury,
McClear, William,
McElhana, William,
Manas, John,
Neily, John,

Nowlin, John,
Pickering, William,
Patterson, Thomas,
Philips, Samuel S.,
Quarles, Stores,
Robison, Kinsey,
Robison, William,
Ritchey, Alexander,
Ramage, Benjamin,
Rhinhart, Samuel,
Robison, Hugh,
Strawmut, John,
Strawmatt, William,
Saxon, Lewis,
Smith, Stephen,
Stations, Moses,
Trimm, Charles,
Taylor, Solomon,
Whitenell, John,
Wadlington, James,
Wells, Henry,
Witherow, Samuel,
Washington, Thomas C.

Appendix

183

CAPTAIN EDWARD WILBURN'S COMPANY

EDWARD WILBURN, Captain.
JOHN M. CABINESS, Lieutenant.
JAMES BARRING, Ensign.
CHARLES LEWIS, Sergeant.
CHARLES LONG, Sergeant.
HOPKINS BOND, Sergeant.

JAMES WHITE, Sergeant.
JAMES YOUNG, Corporal.
JOHN WILLIAMS, Corporal.
WILLIAM BRISTOE, Corporal.
JOSEPH HOOPER, Corporal.
ANDREW TURPIN, Drummer.

Anderson, James,
Ashlook, Thomas,
Agee, William,
Allen, Samuel,
Bedford, John C.,
Bunch, Israel,
Banning, Clark,
Burges, John,
Belk, John,
Belk, James,
Craft, Gilbert,
Cheetham, Hezekiah,
Carpenter, James,
Craft, George,
Condrey, Elifus,
Dohirty, Alexander,
Eldridge, William,

PRIVATES

French, John,
Gwinn, Joseph,
Hicks, Richard,
Helms, James,
Hollett, Solomon,
Jackman, Richard,
Linsey, Henry,
Lynn, James,
Loller, James,
Lynn, Charles,
Lewis, John,
Mitchell, William,
Moody, John,
Murry, John,
Minst, Francis,
McElvain, Samuel,
Nell, Philip,

Newman, Isaac,
Ogden, David,
Reynolds, Charles,
Richardson, Shaderick,
Reynolds, Amos,
Rush, Samuel,
Staton, Joseph,
Stockton, Jesse,
Thurman, William,
Thurman, Littleberry,
Tooly, William,
Vann, John,
Venable, Daniel,
Wilburn, William,
Winfrey, William,
Young, Robert.

CAPTAIN ROBERT PAXTON'S COMPANY

ROBERT PAXTON, Captain.
DANIEL ZIBB, Lieutenant.
WILLIAM RHEA, Ensign.
WILLIAM P. MONTGOMERY, Sergeant.
CAMPBELL GILMORE, Sergeant.
ISHAM READY, Sergeant.
ALEXANDER BROWNLEE, Sergeant.

JAMES ARMES, Sergeant.
ARCHIBALD RHEA, Corporal.
ASHBY JONES, Corporal.
WILLIAM HOG AN, Corporal.
ANTHONY DAVIS, Corporal.
ALLEN MILLER, Rt. W. M.

Atwell, Richard,
Berry, Franklin,
Butler, Nathan,
Buckingham, Peter,
Baker, William,

PRIVATES

Barrett, Thompson,
Broner, William,
Byes, Armstrong,
Batron, Robert,
Calhoun, John,

Cunningham, James,
Caldwell, Andrew,
Duncan, James,
Dobson, Joseph,
Dobson, Robert,

184

Appendix

Paris, John,
Gillingham, John,
Gooch, William,
Good, William,
Hampton, Stephen,
Harvey, John,
Hays, Campbell,
Hays, James I.,
Hays, Andrew E.,
Hunt, James,
Hayes, James,
Hogan, Nathan,
Helton, Thomas,
Hogan, John,
Isaacs, Samuel,
Janes, Berry,
Lampton, Jesse,
Lumpkin, Abraham,

Lisle, Peter,
Lile, Vincent,
Lemons, Isaac,
Montgomery, Robert M.,
Morr, William,
Montgomery, Cyrus,
Moseby, Micajah,
McDaniel, William,
McKinsley, William,
Mathews, Samuel,
McMillan, Joseph M.,
Morris, John,
Ormes, Elly, jr.,
Ormes, Nathan,
Ormes, Elly,
Ormes, Nathan,
Price, Robert,

Riley, William,
Russell, Joseph,
Ray, John,
Raffity, John,
Smith, Isaac,
Skaggs, Charles,
Smith, Thomas,
Smith, Samuel,
Stearman, William,
Tribble, Absalom,
White, John D.,
Waggoner, Willis,
White, John C.,
Wilson, Thomas,
Woodard, Abraham,
White, John,
Wheeler, Charles.

CAPTAIN JAMES ROBISON'S COMPANY

JAMES ROBISON, Captain.
LUKE NICHOLAS, Lieutenant.
GEORGE NEGLEY, Ensign.
THOMAS ARMSTRONG, Sergeant.
LILY SULLIVAN, Sergeant.
SAMUEL EUSON, Sergeant.
JAMES ALEXANDER, Sergeant.

KARR HICKS, Sergeant.
DUNCAN CAMPBELL, Corporal.
EDWARD ROBISON, Corporal.
AARON STALLINGS, Corporal.
ROBERT WILLIAMS, Corporal.
GEORGE LACEY, Fifer.

Alexander, John,
Aainsworth, Joseph,
Baker, Thomas,
Britt, Robert,
Barnes, Thomas B.,
Byle, John H.,
Blakeley, Samuel,
Boreland, Samuel,
Coleran, Alexander,
Coleman, Robert M.,
Cravins, Jesse,
Dunn, Richard,
Dinsmore, Jacob,
Davis, Clem,
Davis, Joseph,
Darneal, Thomas,

PRIVATES

Edwards, Edward,
Furguson, William,
Filson, Jesse,
George, James,
Gare, Isaac,
Gibson, Meredith,
Grace, Henry,
Hamby, James,
Hunter, David,
Hunter, William,
Henderson, Ezekiel,
Handy, Benjamin,
Hardin, Samuel,
Hardin, Benjamin,
Inman, Thomas,
Lancaster, Henry,

Messick, George,
Morris, Ely,
Messimore, George,
Malin, Thomas,
Mitchell, William,
Mesamore, Jacob,
Nickson, William,
Pyle, William,
Pyle, David,
Stutt, Nicholas,
Shelton, Elijah,
Shelton, William,
Shelton, Abraham,
Savage, William M.,
Shelton, Joseph,
Shelton, Robert,

Appendix

185

Smith, Samuel,
Smith, Cloud,
Sullivan, Levi,
Thompson, Lawson,

Thompson, John,
Threet, James,
Thradford, Walker,

Thomas, James,
Tell, Joseph,
Wingard, David.

CAPTAIN ALMY McLEAN'S COMPANY

ALMY McLEAN, Captain.
EPHRAIM M. BRANK, Lieutenant.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Lieutenant.
ISAAC DAVIS, Ensign.
JOHN STULL, Sergeant.
HENRY NusELL, Sergeant.
ENOCH METCALF, Sergeant.

JORDAN O'BRIEN, Sergeant.
JAMES LANGLEY, Corporal.
MOSES MATTHEWS, Corporal.
EDWARD H. TARRANTS, Corporal.
GEORGE HILL, Corporal.
ABNER B. C. DILLINGHAM, Fifer.

PRIVATES

Apling, Henry,
Anderson, John, jr.,
Allen, Linsey,
Anderson, John,
Allison, McLean,
Bishop, James,
Barker, Samuel,
Bone, Cornelius,
Bonds, Lott,
Carter, James,
Craig, John,
Combs, Jesse,
Cob, Elijah,
Craig, Robert,
Crouch, Isaac,
Claxton, Jeremiah,
Dewitt, William,
Donnald, James,
Evans, James,
Ferguson, John K.,
Foley, Mason,
Fox, Nathan,

Fowler, Jeremiah,
Gany, Matthew,
Gant, Thomas,
Gamblin, John,
Grayham, William,
Hewlett, Thomas,
Hines, John,
Howard, Isaac,
Hensley, Leftridge,
Hewlett, Lemuel,
Hubbard, Liner,
Jains, Edward,
Kern, George,
Kennedy, George F.,
Lott, James,
Lynn, Gasham,
Lynn, Henry,
Leece, Samuel,
McGill, James,
Moore, Thomas,
Matthews, Jacob,
McFerson, James,

Martin, John,
Macons, Peter,
Nanny, Spencer,
Norris, Thomas,
Nixon, James,
Penrod, George,
Ripple, Michael,
Row, Adam,
Ripple, Jacob,
Rhodes, Bradford,
Sever, Michael,
Sumner, Thomas,
Sumner, William,
Sunn, John F.,
Sanders, George,
Voris, John,
Wilcox, Elias,
Williams, Noah,
Wade, Hendley,
Wilson, John,
Williams, William,
Yaunce, Lawrence.

CAPTAIN ROBERT PATTERSON'S COMPANY

ROBERT PATTERSON, Captain.
JOHN HENRY, Lieutenant.
JAMES PORTER, Ensign.
ALLEN CARTER, Sergeant.
GEORGE T. ASHBURN, Sergeant.
GRAVES GUNN, Sergeant.

FRANCIS PORTER, Sergeant.
GEORGE HICKMAN, Corporal.
ALLEN KUYKENDALL, Corporal.
WILLIAM BAILEY, Corporal.
ROBERT HENRY, Corporal.

1 86

Appendix

Albert, Jacob,
Allen, Andrew,
Barrett, Enoch D.,
Brian, William,
Barringer, Jonathan,
Barnett, James,
Brown, Richard,
Burchfield, Thomas,
Brown, William,
Brown, Jimmy,
Bailey, James,
Clawson, John,
Collins, Dixon,
Coleman, Archibald,
Clevenger, Asa,
Caradine, David,
Cooksey, Warren,
Collins, Hollen,
Carlisle, Mathew,
Diamond, John,
Diamond, James,
Elam, John,
Finley, Andrew,

PRIVATES

Ford, John,
Farmer, Gray B.,
Glister, Thomas,
Gist, William,
Gidcomb, John,
Gibson, Jordan,
Gilky, Thomas,
Henderson, Carnes D.,
Haney, Joseph,
Hodge, Nathan,
Hadden, William,
Hunsucker, Samuel,
Holley, William,
Jameson, Andrew,
Kown, Andrew,
Kenedy, Neil,
Kuykendall, Mark,
Larkins, Joseph,
Land, Lewis,
Land, Moses,
Morris, William,
McFarland, William D.,
Moore, Jeremiah,

Mann, John,
Miller, John,
Mitchell, Blake,
Neebart, Alexander,
Page, William,
Porter, Oliver,
Rails, Robert,
Rails, Green,
Smith, Ezekiel,
Sears, Abraham,
Smith, Joseph,
Smith, Asa,
Steele, Moses,
Thomas, John,
Thomas, Thomas,
Taylor, Peter,
Tannehill, Benjamin,
Williams, David,
Wheeler, Sebum,
Woods, William,
Wilson, Benjamin,
Wood, Peter.

Appendix.

187

II

ROLL OF FIELD AND STAFF, SLAUGHTER'S REGIMENT, KENTUCKY
DETACHED MILITIA, WAR OF 1812, COMMANDED BY LIEU-
TENANT-COLONEL GABRIEL SLAUGHTER

GABRIEL SLAUGHTER, Lieutenant -colonel.
LANTY ARMSTRONG, First Major.
WILLIAM WAKEFIELD, Second Major.
SAMUEL MACOUN, Lieutenant.
WILLIAM RODES, Lieutenant.
ROGER THOMPSON, Lieutenant.
HORATIO GAITHBR, Surgeon.
ROBERT H. C. PEARSON, S. Mate.

GEORGE C. BERRY, S. Mate.
THOMAS CURRY, Sergeant-major.
STROTHER H. GAINES, Quartermaster-
sergeant.

JOHN THOMPSON, Assistant Quarterm'r.
THOMAS WITHER, Fife Major.
ABNER DECKER, Drum Major.

CAPTAIN GEORGE McAFEE'S COMPANY

GEORGE McAFEE, Captain.
WILLIAM BOHAN, Lieutenant.
JOHN M. JORDAN, Ensign.
JOHN LEWIS, Orderly Sergeant.
JULIUS RUCKER, Sergeant.
JAMES PIERSON, Sergeant.

SAMUEL R. TROUER, Sergeant.
JOHN COCHRAN, Sergeant.
ANDERSON POWERS, Corporal.
DANIEL BOHAN, Corporal.
DANIEL HAY, Corporal.
THOMAS ROBARDS, Corporal.

Adams, Alexander,
Barnes, Zachariah,
Brim, Landy,
Brown, Thomas,
Bunton, Samuel,
Bradshaw, James L.,
Berns, Philip,
Bryant, Daniel,
Bradley, Jacob,
Barclay, David,
Cummings, Alexander,
Curry, Thomas,
Combs, Joseph,
Cummings, Abraham,
Coovert, Simon,
Curry, James,

PRIVATES

Cooney, James,
Cooney, Daniel,
Davis, George,
Dean, William,
Dodson, George,
Dunklin, William,
Ellis, Daniel,
Foreman, Jacob,
Goodnight, Alexander,
Green, William,
Gilmore, Joseph,
Gabbert, James,
Harlow, Thomas,
Haley, Edmund,
Hulton, John,
Horn, John,

Horn, Philip,
Hall, Barnet,
Johnston, William,
Jones, William,
Jones, Thornton,
Kirkham, Joseph,
Knox, George C.,
Kirkpatrick, James,
Lytle, Lewis,
Lockhart, Levi,
Lewis, Elijah,
Lister, Cornelius,
Lister, Stephen,
McAfee, Samuel,
McDonald, Clement,
McCoy, Joseph,

1 88

Appendix

McMinny, William,
Mullikin, John,
Montfort, Jacob,
Mitchel, Jacob,
Napier, William,
Poulter, Joseph,
Pierson, Joseph,
Philips, Aaron,
Preston, George,
Quigley, John,
Ray, William,
Rynierson, Jacob,
Rains, Allen,
Roberts, William,

Ruby, Jacob,
Robertson, Samuel,
Roberts, James,
Silyers, John,
Short, James,
Short, William,
Shields, William,
Sams, Russell,
Sample, James,
Short, Coleman,
Sally, Rany S.,
Stone, Levi,
Thomas, Thompson,
Towner, Samuel,

Thompson, George P.,
Toomy, Isaac,
Thomas, Edmund G.,
Voris, John,
Violet, Sinclair,
Walker, John,
Wilson, John H.,
Wells, John, sr.,
Wilson, Anthony,
Wells, John, jr.,
Whitberry, Jacob,
Weathers, Thomas,
Vest, Jacob.

CAPTAIN JOHN EVANS' COMPANY

JOHN EVANS, Captain.
JOHN CUPPINHEIFER, Lieutenant.
ROBERT GILMORE, Ensign.
AARON BARROW, Sergeant.
THOMAS GALHWAY, Sergeant.
JOSEPH HEDRICK, Sergeant.

GEORGE DUNCAN, Sergeant.
JOHN EVANS, Corporal.
JOHN BURKE, Corporal.
WILLIAM MCCULLOUGH, Corporal.
THOMAS NICHOLS, Corporal.

Barker, Thomas,
Bebber, John,
Beadle, Seaton,
Barnet, James,
Barnet, Jubille,
Bowmer, William,
Barns, Mathew,
Burman, James,
Bowen, William,
Briant, Morgan,
Collins, Andrew,
Dishmon, James,
Dick, Archibald,
Dove, James,
Evans, John,
Elkins, Richard,
Floyd, Thomas,

PRIVATES

Fitzpatrick, Samuel,
Fitzpatrick, George,
Gough, John,
Gilmore, William,
Griffin, John,
Gregory, Samuel,
Hargus, Thomas,
Herrin, Joel,
Hendrickson, Thomas,
Hendrickson, Gibson,
Hardister, William,
Hargus, John,
Harp, Westley,
Harmons, Jesse,
Hedrick, Jacob, jr.,
Hudson, Robert,
Hudson, Manoah,

Hedrick, Jacob, sr.,
Hanes, Ezekiah,
Hunt, William,
Hamilton, James,
Humphries, David,
Hunt, Samuel,
Johnson, James,
James, Daniel F.,
Jasper, Andrew,
McAllister, John,
Moody, Martin,
McCarty, William,
McCan, William,
McKaughan, William,
Neal, Isaac,
Preston, William,
Price, John,

Appendix

189

Reagan, William,
Ridge, Robertson,
Riley, William,
Sneed, John,
Stroud, Ansel,
Tartar, Frederick,

White, Edward,
White, Elisha,
Woolsey, Thomas,
White, David,
Weatherman, Simon,

Wilson, Bird,
Weddle, George,
Weddle, John,
Wright, Walter,
White, John.

CAPTAIN LEONARD P. HIGDON'S COMPANY

LEONARD P. HIGDON, Captain.
DAVID HUSTON, Lieutenant.
JOHN YOUNG, Ensign.
SAMUEL HANDLEY, Orderly Sergeant.
WILLIAM BAILEY, First Sergeant.
BARTON HAWLEY, Second Sergeant.

FRANCIS HAGAN, Third Sergeant.
JAMES W. TYLER, Fourth Sergeant.
ISAAC ANDERSON, Corporal.
JAMES MCDANIEL, Corporal.
HENRY HOLTZCLAW, Corporal.
NATHANIEL HARRIS, Corporal.

Audd, Ambrose,
Anderson, Samuel,
Bredwell, Noah,
Bowl, James,
Burkhead, Isaac,
Blanford, Francis,
Baldwin, McKinsey,
Bishop, Solomon,
Brown, Frederick,
Blann, James,
Burkhead, Basil,
Basey, Jesse,
Bevin, Walter,
Bean, Judson,
Baldwin, Samuel,
Brown, James,
Connor, James,
Clark, Zacheus,
Cissel, James,
Coffman, Michael,
Calvert, Thomas,
Cane, Michael,
Clark, John,
Clemens, Thomas,
Connell, Hiram,

PRIVATES

Connolly, Basil,
Cosby, Overton,
Clark, Abner,
DeMorgan, Reuben N.,
Drake, Jacob,
Dunn, Simpson,
Davis, Lemuel,
David, Amos,
Elliot, Greenbury,
Foxworthy, George,
Fox, William,
Fowler, Thomas,
Gibson, Henry,
Hanon, Ezekiel,
Harrison, Grove,
Hansford, William,
Hagerman, Tunis,
Higdon, James,
Hibbs, John,
Hall, Philip,
Knott, Henry,
Lefler, John,
Lent, William,
Lane, Benjamin,
McDaniel, Redman,

McLaughlin, Jesse,
Malon, Jacob,
McDaniel, William,
Miles, Francis,
Magnill, Richard,
McDaniel, John,
Osborn, Samuel,
Parrish, Francis,
Popham, Hawkins,
Popham, William,
Paul, James,
Polk, James,
Rynearson, Peter,
Roberts, George,
Rozner, William,
Smither, Joel,
Smith, John,
Turner, Joseph,
Vinson, George,
Witherton, John,
Wise, John,
Wise, Joseph,
Watson, Joseph,
Wilson, Benjamin

190

Appendix

CAPTAIN JONATHAN OWSLEY'S COMPANY

JONATHAN OWSLEY, Captain.
LOFTIS COOK, Lieutenant.
STEPHEN LYONS, Ensign.
SAMUEL P. MAGILL, Sergeant.
HENRY SHARP, Sergeant.
JOHN LOGAN, Sergeant.

Adams, Edward,
Bettis, John,
Bower, Francis,
Bryant, William,
Burnett, Nicholas,
Berry, Labon S.,
Ball, Isaiah,
Brook, John,
Baldwin, Joseph.
Burton, William,
Bowman, Jacob,
Breden, James,
Coombs, John,
Cox, Leroy,
Cavenaugh, Philemon,
Cash, William,
Dudarar, Coonrod,
Dudar, William,
Dodson, Thomas,
Davis, Nathan,
Doolin, James,
Davis, John,
Dasswell, Jesse,
Duncan, William,
Embree, Elijah,
Etone, Elijah,

JOHN GILBREATH, Sergeant.
JOHN WOOD, Sergeant.
WILLIAM FORSYTHE, Corporal.
ROBERT BRYANT, Corporal.
JOHN HUFF, Corporal.
THOMAS SCOTT, Corporal.

PRIVATES

Ervin, Francis,
Edwards, Peter,
Forsythe, David,
Goodnight, John,
Gooch, Roland,
Gibson, John,
Gill, Angel,
Hill, Zachariah,
Hotzclaw, Benjamin,
Hackley, James,
Hair, John,
Hutson, Lodrick,
Harvey, James W.,
Haynes, James,
Holmes, George,
Hall, James,
Jackson, William,
Low, Thomas,
Lavinder, John,
Lawrence, Hugh,
Lynn, James,
Martin, William,
McRoberts, Andrew,
McMullen, John,
McCrutcheon, William,

McManny, Charles,
Newcomb, Wilson,
Nelly, Edward,
Oalder, Jonathan,
Pettit, Walker,
Pence, John,
Parsons, Obediah,
Prewitt, David,
Ray, Joseph,
Renalds, Fountain,
Roberts, James,
Ross, Thomas J.,
Raybourne, John,
Simpson, John,
Sutton, Walker,
Souder, Jefferson,
Spratt, Thomas,
Singleton, Mclntire,
Stephens, John,
Singleton, Thomas,
Tedrick, Jacob,
Warden, William,
Wade, Jeremiah,
Wood, William,
Warren, Burris.

CAPTAIN JOHN FARMER'S COMPANY

JOHN FARMER, Captain.
WILLOUGHBY ASHBY, Lieutenant.
JOHN FIGG, Ensign.
JESSE KEETH, First Sergeant.
DAVID WELLER, First Sergeant.
ISAAC CHAMBERS, First Sergeant.

ISAAC HOUSTON, Second Sergeant.
OWEN R. GRIFFITH, Third Sergeant.
CORCELIUS WOODS, Fourth Sergeant.
SAMUEL HEFFLER, First Corporal.
BARNARD BRIDWELL, Second Corporal.
GEORGE WELLER, Third Corporal.

Appendix

191

Angel, George,
Anderson, Thomas,
Anderson, John,
Berton, William,
Bright, John,
Brown, Robert,
Bennett, Jery,
Brewer, James,
Boly, Peter,
Carter, William,
Carico, James,
Chaplain, Jery,
Carter, Samuel,
Carter, Joseph,
Conor, George,
Cane, Mathew,
Doneheu, James,
Denbow, James,
Davis, Jesse,
Dewitt, Abraham,
Davis, John,

PRIVATES

Gilkey, William,
Grubb, William,
Glass, James H.,
Hampton, David,
Hill, Robert,
Harden, John,
Huffman, George,
Hagan, Dory,
Ice, James,
Jones, Joseph,
Jones, John,
Johnston, William,
Johnston, Joseph,
Kenny, William,
Keth, Isaac,
Low, Richard,
Lent, Joseph,
Lanam, James,
Mattingly, Edward,
Medcalf, James,

Medcalf, Benjamin,
Marshall, Daniel,
Miller, Frederick,
Micater, Patrick,
Philips, George,
Powers, Richard,
Reed, Richard,
Robinson, Alexander,
Spilman, Henry,
Springston, Abraham,
Sinkhorn, William,
Shaream, George,
Seals, John,
Thompson, James,
Thompson, John,
Walker, Howard,
White, John,
White, Francis,
Wilcox, Isaac,
York, John.

CAPTAIN ADAM VICKERY'S COMPANY

ADAM VICKERY, Captain.
JOHN GARNER, Lieutenant.
JOHN BARROW, Ensign.
HIRAM GREGORY, Sergeant.
THOMAS BROWN, Sergeant.
MOSES BARNES, Sergeant.

ALEXANDER BROWN, Sergeant.
HARMAN ELROD, Sergeant.
WILLIAM HURT, Corporal.
GEORGE DODSON, Corporal.
THOMAS RYON, Corporal.
LAPSLY HALL, Corporal.

Ard, James,
Andrew, Alexander,
Acre, Peter,
Burnham, Owen,
Bell, John,
Ballard, John,
Burnet, James,
Baker, James,
Baker, Stephen,
Barnes, William,
Bowman, Willis,

PRIVATES

Barnes, Enos,
Brown, Lewis,
Brown, Barnabus,
Butrim, Cornelius,
Craig, John H.,
Casson, John,
Caughorn, William,
Cook, Enos,
Cox, David,
Cooper, Caleb,
Duffey, John,

Dean, James,
Davis, William,
Dabney, Charles,
Elrod, Adam,
Foster, John,
Gray, Jesse,
Gholson, Samuel,
Gibson, Stephen,
Gooding, Abraham,
Gibson, Thomas,
Hains, John,

192

Appendix

Hill, William,
Hall, Henry,
Hill, Claiborn,
Keniday, John,
Kogan, William,
Lea, John,
Luster, John,
Lenn, James,
Lambert, Henry,
Livingston, Robert,
Miller, George,
McGown, Solomon,
Mills, Ulissius,
Moore, David,

Mays, David,
Neal, Jesse,
Pow, Alexander,
Ray, John,
Southword, John,
Shaw, John,
Shelton, John,
Savage, John,
Shelton, James,
Smith, William,
Stephens, Peter,
Smith, Henry,
Stephens, Thomas,
Smith, George,

Sallee, William I.,
Tiller, John,
Thornton, John,
Thomas, Samuel,
Wade, John,
Willice, John,
Woods, James,
Welsher, Joshua,
West, Joseph,
Welsher, Josiah,
West, Alexander,
Wade, Elisha,
Wray, Daniel,
Wallace, Barnabus.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM WOOD'S COMPANY

WILLIAM WOOD, Captain.
PETER OATMAN, Lieutenant.
THOMAS BROWN, Ensign.
HENRY ROBINSON, Sergeant.
ABSALOM Rice, Sergeant.
GEORGE HERRING, Sergeant.

ISAAC THERMAN, Sergeant.
THOMAS JONES, Sergeant.
JOHN McKiNSEY, Corporal.
JOHN ALLEN, Corporal.
SIMON MOBELY, Corporal.
JOHN BOURNE, Corporal.

Anderson, Garland,
Anderson, Thomas,
Adams, John,
Blankenship, John,
Brown, Stanton,
Bailey, Lewis,
Beech, Joel,
Brown, William,
Burton, Allen,
Brown, Edwin,
Barron, Mathias,
Barker, Richard,
Boadly, Peter D.,
Brown, John,
Clements, Thomas,
Coy, Samuel,
Chambers, Abraham,
Coy, Thomas,
Clark, William,

PRIVATES

Davidson, John,
Ditggins, Richard,
Dooly, Jacob,
Duncan, George,
Dotson, Thomas,
Edens, Mathew,
Elliott, Reuben,
Erton, Henry,
Graham, Robinson,
Gill, John,
Greenstaff, George,
Garvin, William,
Green, Thomas,
Gromer, Henry,
Gayheart, Isaac,
Hotsclaw, Martin,
Horley, William,
Hurd, William,
Hay, Isaac,

Huffman, Henry,
Henderson, Joseph,
Hicks, Fleming,
Hoskins, Samuel,
Holmes, Isaac,
Jackman, Thomas,
Lampton, William,
McMeas, Jacob,
Martendale, Moses,
McFadgin, James,
Moore, Moses,
Miller, James,
Mayfield, Sutherland,
Naylor, Jesse,
Newcomb, Lance,
Naylor, George T.,
Naylor, John,
Pow, William,
Pollard, Abner,

Appendix

i93

Preston, John,
Pucket, William,
Spencer, John,
Stone, James,
Stanton, Fleming,
Skiler, John,
Stephens, William,
Stephens, ,

Thacker, Elijah,
Turpin, James,
Tarrent, Larkin,
Tunget, Benjamin,
Vance, Jacob,
Weather, John,
Warren, Joseph,

Wiley, Benjamin,
Woodal, John,
Warmouth, Thomas,
Warmouth, Githean,
Williams, Oscar,
Williams, George,
Yancy, George.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM WADE'S COMPANY

WILLIAM WADE, Captain.
JOHN RIFFE, Lieutenant.
MATHEW COFFEE, Ensign.
DAVID JOHNSON, Sergeant.
JOSHUA MOORE, Sergeant.
JOHN D. THURMOND, Sergeant.

JOHN SPEARS, Sergeant. '
JOHN SHANNON, Sergeant.
WILLIAM JONES, Corporal.
JOHN ESTIS, Corporal.
STARLING COULTER, Corporal.
JACOB CUNNINGHAM, Corporal.

(Obinion or) Albanion, Geo.
Barnett, Skuyler,
Carmen, William,
Curdum, William,
Coxe, Joseph,
Carter, Moses,
Cloyd, Joseph,
Charlton, Levi,
Coulter, Morris,
Carman, Ezekiah,
Clifton, Nehemiah,
Clifton, Isaiah,
Cinkhous, Henry,
Cunningham, Thomas,
Clark, Thomas,
Dyer, William,
Duncan, Flemmin,
Dobbs, William,
Drummond, James,
Davenport, Thomas,
East, Nimrod,
Ewebank, James,
Ecten, Charles,
Edwards, Aaron,
Ellis, John,

PRIVATES

Figg, William,
Gentry, Benjamin,
Gee, John,
Kite, Burton,
Harvey, Robert,
Harvel, Squire,
Hutcherson, Samuel,
Johnson, Luke,
King, Thomas,
Linthicum, Thomas,
Lee, Francis,
Lee, Joseph P.,
McCutchan, Samuel,
Minor, Laban,
Mason, James,
McWherton, Jesse,
Mason, Thomas,
McCan, William,
Mason, Thomson,
Northcut, Arthur,
Noble, Thomas,
Pankey, John B.,
Price, Robert,
Royaltree, Henry,
Riffe, Christopher,

Ragsdale, Gabriel,
Royaltree, William,
Riffe, Abraham,
Reed, Philip,
Routsaw, Coonrod,
Raglin, James,
Reed, Little B.,
Studer, David,
Seabron, Jehu,
Stepp, William,
Selch, Nicholas,
Skidmore, John,
Snow, John,
Studor, Randal,
Stanton, William,
Thomas, Robert,
Tailor, Jacob,
Vorus, Abraham,
Vantres, Jacob,
Williams, Amos,
Wright, Bennett C.,
Whitesides, David,
Williams, Richard,
Yager, Lewis.

194

Appendix

CAPTAIN EDWARD BERRY'S COMPANY

EDWARD BERRY, Captain.
DAVID RODMAN, Lieutenant.
THOMAS MC!NTIRE, Ensign.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, Sergeant.
GBORGB ELLIOTT, Sergeant.
STARLING THOMPSON, Sergeant.

CHARLES FOWLER, Sergeant.
JOHN AUSTIN, Sergeant.
ANDREW POWEL, Sergeant.
JOEL NELSON, Sergeant.
PHILIP RICHARDSON, Sergeant.
JOHN McCLURE, Sergeant.

Adams, Henry,
Burns, Isaac,
Bennett, George W.,
Baker, James,
Baker, William,
Bryan, John,
Barnett, William,
Champion, Joseph,
Cannon, Robert,
Cogenom, George,
Campton, James,
Casey, David,
Catlin, Seth,
Carter, Benjamin,
Cross, William,
Creagh, Christian,
Davis, Robert,
Earl, Samuel,
Ferguson, Daniel,
Franklin, Edward,
Graves, John,
Hickerson, John,
Hickerson, Joseph,
Hilton, Henry,
Hart, William,

PRIVATES

Higgins, David,
Jackson, James,
Lockett, Samuel,
Lannom, Lewis,
Lawson, Chester,
Lawson, Berry,
Lambert, David,
Lannom, Samuel,
Miles, Alexander,
Miller, Joseph,
Morgan, Abraham,
McMurry, Thomas,
Maxwell, Charles,
Morris, Reuben,
Matherly, Joel,
Malone, William,
Milbourn, Israel,
McMurry, William,
Mann, William,
McAllister, James,
Mead, Joseph,
McMurry, William,
McAllister, Daniel,
Miles, Edward,
Montgomery, Thomas,

Nelson, William,
Oldridge, Nathaniel,
Prewitt, Daniel,
Prater, Reson,
Richards, Zodick,
Ridge, Cornelius,
Ridge, William,
Right, Robert,
Right, William,
Reed, Nathan,
Seamster, Pleasant,
Simpson, Floyd,
Stump, Johnston,
Simpson, Asa,
Taylor, Jeremiah,
Tolby, Jonathan,
Whitter, William,
Watham, James H.,
White, Thomas L.,
Watham, Nicholas,
Whitten, Jeremiah,
Whitehouse, John,
Whitehouse, Cornelius,
Woods, Henry.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM PHILIPS' COMPANY

WILLIAM PHILIPS, Captain.
GODHART SMACK, Lieutenant.
JOHN LUDWICK, Ensign.
ASA R. HILL, Sergeant.
JOSEPH ABEL, Sergeant.
WILLIAM MCENERY, Sergeant.
CHARLES COLTER, Sergeant.

HENRY COWAN, Sergeant.
ROBERT ROCHESTER, Corporal.
JOHN GRAYHAM, Corporal.
JOHN MOBLEY, Corporal.
ROBERT BRUMFIELD, Corporal.
THOMAS HILL, Musician.
WILLIAM VANOY, Musician.

Appendix

Anderson, Thomas,
Blaire, James,
Brown, Francis,
Brown, Henderson,
Bullott, John,
Butler, William,
Botains, William, sr.,
Botains, William, jr.,
Baker, Henry,
Blacketler, William,
Camburn, Osburn,
Cissell, Thomas,
Cidwell, John,
Caho, John,
Cissell, Robert,
Cannon, Israel,
Cravens, James,
Cunstable, Stephen,
Cinkhorn, John,
Cundiff, James,
Cartico, Lloyd,
Collier, Daniel,
Easton, John,
Elliott, John,
Enson, George,

PRIVATES

Green, Charles,
Gerton, John,
Grey, Charles,
Galesby, Edward,
Gains, Strother H.(
Harris, Overton,
Harris, William,
Hinton, Shadrick,
Howard, Charles,
Hall, Thomas,
Knott, Jeremiah,
Landers, James,
Lyons, John,
Lyons, Charles W.,
Lanham, William,
Lockman, John B.,
Lockman, Charles,
Mercer, Martin,
Mills, Samuel,
Mattingly, Joseph,
Mahoney, William,
Miller, Ignatius,
Marby, Micajah,
Morgan, Jubel,

Meanally, Basil,
Meanally, John,
Mitchel, Jacob,
Newton, Ignatius,
Nichols, John,
Owings, James,
Patterson, Joseph,
Philips, Jesse,
Quigans, James,
Quigans, Joseph,
Stemmons, Henry,
Stanfield, John,
Smithers, Daniel,
Smith, Richard,
Simpson, Allugus,
Smith, John,
Sanders, John,
Updergrove, Joseph,
Vessels, Benjamin,
Vaun, Obediah,
Waid, Evan,
Wooley, John,
Williams, Edward,
Whitehouse, Thomas.

196

Appendix

III

ROLL OF FIELD AND STAFF, DAVIS'S REGIMENT, KENTUCKY

DETACHED MILITIA, WAR OF 1812, COMMANDED BY

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PRESLEY GRAY

PRESLEY GRAY, Lieutenant-colonel.

JOHN DAVIS, Major.

JAMES JOHNSON, Major.

WILLIAM WALKER, Major.

ZEBA HOLT, Major.

S. C. STEPHENS, Adjutant.

GEORGE P. MILLER, Paymaster.

ZACHARIAH TERRYHEL, Quartermaster.

ALLEN A. HAMILTON, Surgeon.

HENRY WINSLOW, Surgeon's Mate.
WILLIAM W. FORD, Sergeant-major.
SAMUEL STEWART, S. Mate.
WILLIAM VANCLEVE, Drum Major.
JOHN CURRY, Fife Major.
SAMUEL GRAY, Quartermaster-sergeant.
SAMUEL BLACKWELL, Quartermaster-
sergeant.

CAPTAIN ROBERT THRUSTON'S COMPANY

ROBERT THRUSTON, Captain.
HENRY GRESHAM, Lieutenant.
JOHN D. GOTT, Ensign.
SAMUEL S. GREEN, Sergeant.
DANIEL RAGSDALE, Sergeant.
JOHN S. SIMPSON, Sergeant.
AARON COLLETT, Sergeant.

GEORGE RUNGER, Corporal.
ADAM GILLILAND, Corporal.
ISAAC HILL, Corporal.
DAVID RICKEY, Corporal.
JOHN CURRY, Fifer.
THOMAS CURRY, Drummer.

Armstrong, Benjamin,
Arnold, William,
Arnold, Robert,
Allen, Nathaniel,
Alexander, John,
Blanton, Thomas,
Bowman, James,
Bryant, Thomas,
Brooky, John,
Barnett, Philip E.,
Blanchard, John,
Caldwell, William,

PRIVATES

Cathran, John,
Cooley, Jesse,
Clark, David,
Crow, Andrew,
Chenowith, Thomas,
Collett, Moses,
Caplinger, John,
Cottonham, John D.,
Daniels, George,
Dawville, Charles,
Elsbury, Jonathan,
Farmer, James,

Galbreath, William,
Hunter, Charles,
Hunter, Willis,
Hill, John,
Ingraham, James,
Inshmeyer, John,
Knapp, Charles,
Kirk, James,
Kincade, Matthew,
Lowell, Jacob,
Leggett, John,
Miller, Christopher,

Appendix

197

Messen, James,
Milam, John,
McCartney, Andrew,
Newell, Archibald,
Osborn, John,
Porter, James,
Pittenger, Thomas,
Prewett, Joel,
Parsons, David,
Penley, Wesley,

Russell, John,
Ragsdale, Frederick,
Robinson, James,
Shrum, John,
Sharp, William,
Standiford, William,
Smith, Henry,
Spence, Willis,
Stillwell, Isaiah,

Stafford, Thomas,
Tyler, Willis,
Taylor, James,
Tadlock, Alexander,
Thursby, James,
Weems, James S.,
White, Warren,
Woodward, John,
Washburn, Samuel S.

CAPTAIN THOMAS JOYES' COMPANY

THOMAS JOYES, Captain.
ANDREW PORTTORFP, Lieutenant.
SAMUEL EARICKSON, Ensign.
JOHN HADLEY, Sergeant.
WILLIAM SALE, Sergeant.
JOHN BOOKER, Sergeant.

JOHN W. BAINBRIDGE, Sergeant.
JOHN RAY, Corporal.
JOHN O. HANLON, Corporal.
WILLIAM DUERSON, Corporal.
ABNER C. YOUNG, Corporal.

Ames, Robert B.,
Brinley, Jacob,
Bateman, Isaac,
Balee, Abraham,
Booty, John,
Brandenburgh, Absalom,
Bagwell, John,
Croxton, Cornelius,
Carson, Hugh,
Cardwell, William,
Carlton, Francis D.,
Crossgrave, Charles,
Calhoun, Alexander,
Dunn, Thomas,
Davis, Squire,
Dougherty, Patrick,
Elms, William,
Floyd, Nathaniel,
Gosshort, Adam,
Greenawalt, John,
Glassgow, James,
Glassgow, John,

PRIVATES

Guthrie, Moses,
, Hilliard, Anson G.,
Hill, Mason,
Hubbs, Jacob,
Holt, Samuel,
Johnson, William,
Jones, John,
Jackson, George,
Kelly, Christopher,
Lashbrook, Samuel,
Martin, Westley,
Meddis, Godfrey,
Morlow, Peter,
Miller, John,
Merryfield, John,
Miller, Levi,
Myrtle, William,
Miller, George,
Mayfield, Isaac,
Morrow, John,
Minter, John,

Meddis, John, (Waiter)
Newkirk, William,
Ormer, Peter,
Parish, Price,
Pearson, George R.,
Pierce, Chester,
Ralston, Alexander,
Risley, James,
Ross, Thomas,
Stewart, James,
Stower, Patrick,
Slaughter, Jacob,
Stout, Michael,
Talbot, Thomas,
Thickston, William,
Tyler, Joseph,
Traceler, Philip,
Williams, Moses,
Woodward, James,
Wheeler, Jesse,
Welsh, Moses.

198

Appendix

CAPTAIN WILLIAM WALKER'S COMPANY

WILLIAM WALKER, Captain.
JOHN SMITH, Lieutenant.
JOHN WEBB, Ensign.
JOHN HARVEY, Sergeant.

JOHN H. GIBBS, Sergeant.
JOEL HARDIN, Sergeant.
ELIJAH YORK, Sergeant.

Arterbury, James,
Bear, John,
Benedict, Tomkins,
Bear, Adam,
Bear, George,
Burgman, William,
Bates, Simeon,
Brewer, Charles,
Brown, Asa,
Carr, Elijah,
Clarke, Albin,
Cashman, Peter,
Cashman, John,
Case, Jacob,
Cowper, Joshua,
Caffrey, Thomas M.,
Clayton, John,
Davis, Silas,
Dawson, John,
Dowddle, Thomas J.,
Gardner, James,

PRIVATES

Gilblaine, Robert,
Goatly, Thomas,
Gentry, William,
Glasscock, William,
Horton, Anthony,
Hulse, Josiah,
Holmes, Nicholas,
Hedges, Robert,
Hayes, Daniel,
Jarboe, Joseph,
Jackson, Isaac,
Johns, John,
Kinder, Peter,
King, John,
Keith, Jacob,
Langsley, John,
Liney, Zachariah,
Lyons, John,
Mattingly, Bennett,
Morgan, Lambeth,

Mellor, Jacob,
Millor, John,
Night, John,
Osten, Jeremiah,
Parpoint, Charles,
Pate, Allen,
Painter, William,
Pile, Francis,
Paul, George,
Pearman, Samuel,
Pearman, John,
Pate, Jeremiah,
Padden, John,
Radley, Ichabod,
Sally, Oliver P.,
Sevaney, Glasberry,
Slack, William,
Thomas, Joseph,
White, William,
Whitaker, Jesse.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH FUNK'S COMPANY

JOSEPH FUNK, Captain.
THOMAS TODD, Lieutenant.
MARTIN ADAMS, Ensign.
WILLIAM WALLACE, Sergeant.
ISAAC CARR, Sergeant.
JAMES AUSTIN, Sergeant.

JOSEPH WILLHORT, Sergeant.
FREDERICK MASON, Corporal.
JAMES PREWITT, Corporal.
JOHN YOUNG, Corporal.
THOMAS BATEMAN, Corporal.
WILLIAM TETER, Corporal.

Anderson, Thomas,
Archer, Thomas,
Austin, William,
Austin, Daniel,
Bateman, John,

PRIVATES

Briser, James,
Blankinboke, Jacob,
Brooks, Jacob,
Cann, Edward,
Campbell, James,

Campbell, George B.
Crews, Elijah,
Crews, Zachariah,
Crow, Andrew D.,
Cox, George,

Appendix

199

Edmondson, John,
Fiteshue, Cole,
Fitzer, Jacob,
Ferguson, Samuel,
Forus, James,
Oilman, Timothy,
Griffy, Samuel,
Greathouse, Luther,
Green, Joseph,
Gunn, Jonathan,
Green, John,
Harris, Thomas,
Hendricks, James F.,
Hortly, John,
Hensely, Alexander,
Harmond, John,
Hobson, Milburn,

Ingram, James,
Jones, Hamilton,
Job, Andrew,
Jones, Thomas,
Johnson, Thomas,
Kalfers, Jacob,
Knight, John,
Louther, Henry,
Leggett, William,
Maxwell, William,
Mitchell, William,
Miller, Adam,
Pearce, John,
Powell, William,
Portlow, Samuel,
Portlow, Edward,
Rudy, George,

Shelman, Jacob,
Spalding, George W..
Steel, Andrew,
Stuart, Robert,
Shake, John,
Shake, Adam,
Shirley, Absalom,
Tyler, David,
Tyler, Absalom,
Williams, Benjamin,
Willhoit, Larkin,
Wilky, John,
Wood, Timothy,
Wood, Henry,
Wooden, Robert,
Woodward, Michael.

CAPTAIN ZIBA HOLT'S COMPANY

ZIBA HOLT, Captain.
JOHN MONTGOMERY, Lieutenant.
ADAM MOWNY, Ensign.
WYAT COLEMAN, Sergeant.
WILLIAM STEWART, Sergeant.
HENRY BLUNT, Sergeant.

JOHN HOLODY, Sergeant.
THOMAS SUBLETT, Corporal.
JOSEPH PEW, Corporal.
NATHAN CHALPRANT, Corporal.
MARK WILLIAMS, Corporal.
JEREMIAH STOWERS, Fifer.

Anderson, Josiah,
Agins, John,
Baker, Joseph,
Brasher, Reason,
Boon, Moses,
Brown, William,
Bags, John,
Barnhill, William,
Brent, James,
Barker, Samuel,
Colvin, James M.,
Chase, William,
Conway, William,
Corin, William,
Crews, Jeremiah,
Dermit, James,

PRIVATES

Drinkel, Timothy,
Dean, John,
Ballon, Charles,
Gillum, Charles,
Glenn, John,
Gillum, Benjamin,
Gilpin, George,
Glass, John,
Holt, John,
Hammon, John,
Heath, Martin,
Horton, James,
Gentry, Pleasant,
Gibson, Perrygon,
Gannon, Zachariah,
Jones, Hamilton,

James, Thomas,
Jones, Moses,
Kindor, Peter,
Kendall, Thomas,
Keyton, John,
Lattey, Mathew,
Lock, Samuel,
McGee, William,
Miller, William,
Montgomery, Robert,
McGannon, Thomas,
Overton, Moses,
Parrott, William,
Parker, Asa,
Reastine, John,
Reed, James,

200

Appendix

Ragsdale, William,
Robbins, David,
Redding, Samuel,
Senor, David,
Spencer, Ambrose,
Sparks, Walter,

Spillman, Charles,
Sparks, Henry,
Taylor, John,
Thomas, John,
Veal, Thomas,
Watson, Samuel,

Williams, John,
Waters, Major,
Williams, Samuel,
Wiley, Matthew,
Wooders, Stephen.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM GANAWAY'S COMPANY

WILLIAM GANAWAY, Captain.
JULIUS C. JACKSON, Lieutenant.
JOHN FIELD, Ensign.
JOHN CLEVBR, Sergeant.
PETER BODINE, Sergeant.
SAMUEL C. MYERS, Sergeant.

HENRY LEACH, Sergeant.
SAMUEL KELLY, Corporal.
JOHN TRAVIS, Corporal.
JOHN COHEN, Corporal.
BENJAMIN THOMAS, Corporal.

PRIVATES

Anderson, Athel,
Bott, John,
Barren, Josiah,
Burnett, Abraham,
Barren, Thomas,
Barren, Shadrick,
Barnett, Felia,
Bennett, Briant,
Bartell, George,
Bennett, Reuben,
Brown, Isaac,
Brown, Henry,
Cane, John,
Conrad, Henry,
Collard, William,
Colaway, Walter,
Conrad, John,
Davis, George,

Dunlap, Henry,
Duff, William M.,
Evans, William,
Fulkerson, Adam,
Fulkerson, John,
Haycraft, James,
Hogan, George,
Harris, Samuel,
Islor, Jacob,
Jones, Lemuel,
Jones, Philip,
Jordan, James,
Kelly, George W.,
Kelly, Benjamin,
Lewellon, Jabez,
Lock, William,
Logsdon, James,
Moloham, Clement,

Myers, Benjamin,
Miller, Uriah,
Ogden, Zachariah,
Ogden, Levi,
Olvy, Thomas,
Olvy, Clement,
Ogden, James,
Philips, John,
Prunty, Robert,
Rice, Allen,
Spray, Jonas,
Sconse, John,
Tanner, Frederick,
Wakeland, William R.,
Ward, Jesse,
Williams, Evan,
Welcher, William,
Wood, Robert.

CAPTAIN JACOB PEACOCK'S COMPANY

JACOB PEACOCK, Captain.
BENJAMIN HENSON, Lieutenant.
JOHN KELLY, Ensign.
JOSEPH SWEARING, Sergeant.
JESSE BURCH, Sergeant.
BENJAMIN COLLINS, Sergeant.

JOHN SHIRKILIFFE, Sergeant.
WILLIAM TODD, Corporal.
LEVI RIDGWAY, Corporal.
JOSEPH RUDD, Corporal.
WALTER SMITH, Corporal.
CHARLES WILSON, Corporal.

Appendix

201

Burdett, William,
Burdett, Benjamin,
Beam, George,
Baldwin, McKensey,
Blanford, George,
Bishop, Henry,
Craw, Joseph,
Campbell, Jacob,
Cummins, John,
Clark, Joseph,
Collins, Elisha,
Cardwell, George,
Charles, William,
Cosby, Ignatius,
Davis, John,
Dumont, Peter,
Danielson, William,
Duberry, Benjamin,
Duberry, James,
Easton, Samuel,

PRIVATES

Glass, Royal,
Greenwell, John B.,
Harris, Essex,
Hardy, Jacob,
Hopewell, Thomas,
Herrin, James,
Johnson, Joseph,
Kerms, Daniel,
Kirk, William,
Kirke, Selerin,
Lashbrook, Thomas,
Merryman, Charles,
McArthur, John,
McDonald, Archibald,
Miller, Peter,
McDonnel, Miles,
McGary, Barney,
Martin, John,
Owens, George,

Osborn, Ezekiel,
Price, Samuel,
Polly, Joseph,
Pratt, Richard,
Pursley, Peter,
Quick, Ephraim,
Reed, Robert,
Rogers, John,
Rennels, Barney,
Shephard, William,
Shaw, William,
Steel, John,
Sligar, John,
Smock, Jacob,
Thompson, William,
Tonque, John B.,
Whalen, Joseph,
Waters, Hezekiah B.,
Younger, Ebenezer.

CAPTAIN ZACHARIAH TERRELL'S COMPANY

ZACHARIAH TERRELL, Captain.
DAVID ADAMS, Lieutenant.
JAMES PERRY, Ensign.
JAMES VANCE, First Sergeant.
JOSHUA RUTLEDGE, Second Sergeant.
JOHN BUCHANNON, Third Sergeant.
ISAAC HURD, Fourth Sergeant.

JACOB COOPERIDER, Corporal.
PETER POLLY, Corporal.
GILBERT FLANKINS, Corporal.
THOMAS FRAZIER, Corporal.
ELIJAH SUMMERS, Corporal.
JESSE ISAACS, Musician.

Armstrong, Richard,
Applegate, Elisha,
Burnett, William,
Bourne, Benjamin,
Briscoe, Warner,
Baker, Solomon,
Biggs, Hillery,
Blackwell, Samuel,
Bishop, Michael,
Blackwell, Robert,
Connelly, Rice,

PRIVATES

Carico, Thomas,
Criswell, Robert,
Cardwell, John,
Corlin, Benjamin,
Dillon, John,
Dalgarn, Allen,
Deringer, Martin,
Davis, Jacob,
Davis, William,
Drake, John,
Ewin, Squire,

Edrington, John,
Floyd, Elijah,
Ford, John,
Gray, William,
Gouch, Nicholas,
Hollis, John P.,
Hogan, Isaac C.,
Hackworth, Joseph,
Harris, Samuel,
Jones, Rodham,
Jacobs, John,

202

Appendix

Kirkindal, Henry,
Kipheart, Philip,
Lemaston, Ewin,
McGee, William,
Mudd, Francis,
Miller, Nathaniel,
Miller, Owen,
Myers, David,
Nelson, William,
Nelson, John,
Newman, Thomas,

Newman, John,
Neaver, Daniel,
Neville, James,
Neaves, William,
Paine, Elzy,
Roe, Nicholas,
Rodgers, John,
Rimy, James,
Stutt, Christian,
Stodghill, Thomas,
Steel, William,

Sherburne, Pascal,
Sanders, Johnson,
Spencer, Thomas,
Steel, James,
Steel, Rankin,
Scott, James,
Todd, Samuel,
Terrill, John,
Vaniel, Henry,
Welch, William.

CAPTAIN AARON HART'S COMPANY

AARON HART, Captain.
MOSES HART, Lieutenant.
NATHAN TUCKER, Ensign.
ARTHUR MCGAUGHEY, First Sergeant.
GEORGE Siss, Second Sergeant.
JOHN COLLINS, Third Sergeant.

JOHN BURRISS, Fourth Sergeant,
WILLIAM HUDDLESTON, Corporal.
WILLIAM WATKINS, Corporal.
DANIEL GREENWAIT, Corporal.
JAMES LINVILLE, Corporal.
DAVID WADDLE, Corporal.

Alexander, Thomas,
Alexander, David B.,
Arrington, Lewis,
Bennett, James,
Bliss, Francis,
Blain, James,
Clark, Eaden,
Clark, James,
Case, Joseph,
Cash, Jeremiah,
Cast, John,

PRIVATES

Daugherty, Allen,
Gaddy, John,
Guardman, Jonathan,
Grigsby, John,
Graham, John,
Huston, William,
Hornbeck, Isaac,
Hudgins, John,
Johnston, Thomas,
Killam, Samuel,
Lender, Abraham,

McContis, William,
Miller, Philip,
Price, William,
Snyder, Fielding,
Sipes, Henry,
Stokes, Joel,
Shipler, George,
Thomas, Owen,
Utterback, Jacob,
Utterback, Thomas,
Watkins, Hankerson.

INDEX

PAGE

Adair, General John, borrows guns for Kentucky troops, 73, 77, 98

Adair, General John, commands Kentucky troops, .... 71

Adair, General John, Legislature votes thanks, 141

Adair, General John, rupture with Jackson, ni,n8

Adair, General John, sketch of his life, 168

American forces in night battle, 23.51

American losses in Louisiana campaign, 123

Appendix, roster of Kentucky Militia, three regiments, 177, 202

Armstrong, Major, regiment Kentucky Militia, 187

Army, British, with great armada, 2

Army, Jackson's, strange medley, 31

Arnaud, Major, retreat on 8th, 100, no

Baker, Colonel, battle of 8th 73

Barataria, resort of Lafitte pirates, 19

Baratarians loyal to Americans, 21

Baratarians offer services to Jackson, 30

Battle at night, December 23d, 41

Battle, by assault, at Pensacola, 16

Battle in Mobile Bay, 15

Battle, January 8th, east bank 76

Battle, January 8th, west bank, 99

Battle of December 28th, artillery duel, 53

Battle of Fort St. Philip, fleet repulsed 125

Battle of gunboats with barge fleet 27

Battle of January i st, British in force repulsed 56

Battle, second, in Mobile Bay, 132

204 Index

Beale, Captain, in battle of 8th 81

Beale, Captain, New Orleans Rifles, 31. 72

Beer, William, Librarian v

Bienvenue, Bayou, British invade at, 35

British army, covert retreat, 121, 126

British camp on Villere plantation, 38

British capture Fort Bowyer, Mobile Bay, 132

British designs to capture New Orleans and hold Louisiana, . 1 46

British forces engaged in battle, January 8th, 76,85

British forces engaged on west bank, January 8th, 93

British invade by Bayou Bienvenue, 38

British losses in battle of the 8th, 84

British losses in Louisiana campaign 122

British mistakes, 50, 90, 101

British soldiers' laurels in European wars, 158

Butler, Adjutant-general, losses in battle of 8th, 84

Carroll, General, commands Tennessee troops, 71, 77

Carroll, General, Legislature votes thanks, 141

Carroll, General, president Court of Inquiry, 109

Chalmette plantation battle line, ^53

Claiborne, Governor, and Committee of Safety, 22, 40

Claiborne, Governor, closes halls of Legislature, 139

Cobbett, William, on battle of New Orleans, 156

Cochrane, Admiral, British, i, 41, 90

Coffee, General, Legislature votes thanks, 141

Coffee, General, Tennessee Riflemen, 43, 71, 80

Colored troops, Major Daquin's battalion 31

Colored troops, Major Lacoste's battalion 31

Cotton bales not used for breastworks, 59

Court-martial called 109

Index 205

Creek Indians, defeated, sue for peace, 12

Daquin, Major, battle of 8th, 72

Davis, Colonel, of Kentucky militia, 100, no

Davis, Colonel, regiment Kentucky militia, 196

Declouet, Colonel, Louisiana troops, 46, no, 137

Disloyal utterances give alarm, . . . .- 33. 136

Disorder and chaos at New Orleans 25

Dragoons, Mississippi, Major Hinds', 40

Duncan, Captain, reports disloyalty, 137

Durrett, R. T., Library iii

England employs entire army and navy against America on

fall of Napoleon, 6

English views of campaign, 47, 60

Entrenched line, Jackson's, on January 8th, 69

Fishermen spies favor British, 37

Fleet, English, anchors off Ship Island, 24

Fleet, English Armada, sixty sail, i

Fortified posts around New Orleans, 30

Fort Mims massacre, 1 1

Gaither, Doctor Horatio, surgeon Kentucky regiment, . 187

Ghent, negotiations for peace put off, 7

Gibbs, General, killed in battle of 8th, 84

Gleig, Captain, English historian, 47, 60

Gleig, Captain, on battle of the 8th, 85

Gleig, Captain, on conquest of Louisiana, 148

Gleig, Captain, on the retreat of the British, 126

Gray, Colonel Presley, regiment Kentucky militia, . ... . 194

Guichard, Honorable Magloire, . 46, 137

Hall, Judge, fines Jackson, 145

Hall, Judge, suppressed by Jackson, 144

206 Index

Hamilton, Doctor Allen A., surgeon Kentucky regiment, . 196
Harrison, Major Reuben, regiment Kentucky militia, . .179

Henly, Captain, post opposite New Orleans, 55

Hill, Major, British, on cause of defeat, 88

Hinds, Major, Legislature votes thanks, 141

Hinds, Major, of Mississippi troops 40, 75

Invasion of Louisiana, British designs, 4

Jackson appointed to command Federal army, 9

Jackson assaults and captures Pensacola, 17

Jackson attacks British at night on landing, 40

Jackson, battle on west bank, 98-121

Jackson closes Federal court, exiles judge, 144

Jackson declares martial law, 32

Jackson defeats British at Mobile Bay, 15

Jackson fortifies at Rodrique Canal, 54

Jackson, General Andrew, destroys Creek Nation, 1 1

Jackson marches to Mobile, then to New Orleans, .... 22

Jackson on British conquest of Louisiana 157

Jackson orders suppression of Legislature, 135

Jackson, sketch of his life 160

Jackson's alignment on January 8th, 70-76

Jackson's report to Secretary of War, 123

Johnson, Major James, regiment Kentucky militia, . . . .196

Jones, Lieutenant, in gunboat battle, 28

Keene, General, British, 41, 80, 83

Kentucky troops, battle on west bank 100, no

Kentucky troops in battle of January 8th, 74

Kentucky troops, Louisiana women and men, noble conduct

to, 67

Kentucky troops ; neglect of government ; bad condition, . 64-68

Index 207

Kentucky troops, reports libelous and sensational, . . . .104

Kentucky troops, volunteer militia in War 1812-15, • • • • :74

King, Major, British, killed 83

Labi tat, General, closes legislative halls, 139

Lacoste, Major, battle of 8th, 72

Lafitte, Captain Jean, and his pirates, 18

Lafitte, Captain Jean, British overtures, 20

Lafitte, Captain Jean, reveals all to Jackson, 21

Lambert, General, succeeds Pakenham, 83, 92

La tour, Major, author "Memoirs of War," 25

Latour, Major, comments, 94, 120

Latour, Major Lacarriere, chief engineer, 2

Lauderdale, Colonel, of Mississippi troops, 47

Lawrence, Colonel William, again defends Mobile, 132

Lawrence, Colonel William, defends Mobile 16

Legislature, complimentary resolutions, 141

Legislature, Louisiana, suppressed by Jackson, 135

Legislature orders Committee of Inquiry, 137

Legislature report exonerates members, 1 40

Lockyer, Captain of English barge fleet, 29

Loillier, Honorable, sent beyond Jackson's lines, .... 144
Louisiana troops ; Plauche's battalion, Beale's Rifles, Daquin's
colored battalion, Lacoste's colored battalion, Barata-

rians, General Morgan's division, 40-44

Marequez, Governor of Florida, aids British, 14

Marequez, Jackson's letter to, 154

Marequez surrenders Pensacola to Jackson, 17

Martial law at New Orleans 32

McRae, Colonel, of Seventh Regulars, 40

Military operations, Northern and Middle States, 7

2o8 Index

Mississippi troops, 4°, 75

Mitchusson, Colonel William, regiment Kentucky militia, 179

Mobile, British squadron repulsed at, 15

Mobile, headquarters of Jackson, 12

Morgan, General, at English Turn, . .44, 52, 89

Morgan, General, command on west bank, . . . .97, 103, no

Mullins, Colonel, British, blamed for disaster, 88

Nichols, Colonel, address to Louisianians and Kentuckians, 15

Nichols, Colonel, British, camp at Pensacola 14

Nichols, Colonel, on conquest of Louisiana, 149

Nichols, Colonel, sends emissaries to Lafitte, the pirate, . 20

Ovations to Jackson, 145

Pakenham, death of, was heroic, 83, 157

Pakenham, Lord, Commander-in-chief, 3

Pakenham, with Generals Gibbs, Keene, and Lambert,

assumes command; arrives December 25th, ... 56
Parker, Lieutenant-colonel, regiment Kentucky militia, . . 179

Patterson, battery on west bank, 55, 76, 105

Patterson, Commodore, battle of 23d, 42

Peace, news of, arrives, 133

Pensacola assaulted and captured by Jackson, 16

Pensacola, capital Spanish Florida, 12

Pensacola made Indian recruiting camp by British, .... 14
Pentecost, Dr. John C., surgeon Kentucky regiment, . . .179

Peire, Major, United States Regulars, 72

Plauche, Major, uniformed men 34, 72

Providence and battle of New Orleans, 156

Rence, Colonel, British, killed, 80, 83

Rodrique Canal, Jackson's line, 52

Ross, Colonel, American, 42, 72

Index 209

Seymour, Judge, William H., Latour's letter to, 119

Shelby, Governor, sketch of his life, 163

Ship Carolina burned with hot shot, 52

Ship Louisiana, destructive flanking fire, 54

Ship Louisiana saved, 52

Slaughter, Colonel, regiment Kentucky militia, 187

Slaughter, Colonel, sketch of his life, 171

Spies at Fisherman's Village, 35

Sugar hogsheads, British used on redoubts, 59

Tennessee troops in battle of January 8th, 75

Tennessee troops, more arrive, 64

Thomas, General, disabled with illness, 65

Thornton, Colonel, battalion on west bank, 100

Thornton, Colonel, British, 38

Villere, General, plantation, British camp, 38

Villere, Major, daring escape, 38

Wakefield, Major, regiment Kentucky militia, 187

Walker, Major, William, regiment Kentucky militia, . . .196

War Department, incapacity of, 5

Wells, Honorable Levi, debarred from Legislature, . . . .139

West bank, military blunders, 97

West bank of river, defenses begun, 54

West bank, Patterson erects battery on, 55

Young, Colonel, of Louisiana militia, 75

UIOI

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